The Unmistakable Fire

A Rocky IV/Creed II Fanfic

By Auburn Red

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They belong to Sylvester Stallone, Stephen Caple Jr. and the other talented filmmakers. I however created Sofia, Alexei, Popov, Yevgeny, Sasha, and Ayzere. The title comes from a line in the Survivor song, "Burning Heart." (My favorite song from Rocky IV)

Author's Note: I apologize if the descriptions of Soviet and Russian politics are inaccurate. Personally, I think while some of the allegations were no doubt propaganda and exaggerated by the American press, some were also true. Just like in the United States (especially nowadays.). I am just using how they are depicted in the context and framework of the Rocky and Creed movies.

Oh and I am not very familiar with boxing terms so I am keeping them to a minimum using well known ones like cutting, faking, knockout etc. I am more interested in the psychology of such athletes: the persistence, determination, vengeance, etc. Of those who earn a living fighting each other.

Author's Note Update: I decided to do some new things with this fic. It's pretty much the same but there were some headcanon ideas that I wanted to do differently and now having seen many of my favorite scenes of Creed II on Youtube and having some encouragement from my fellow Creed II fans on Youtube (like J. Rossi and Gunners 4Life 97), as well as from you wonderful readers and reviewers like EvenLynn and Queen of the Gale and the folks on AO3's Facebook group, I have decided to go through with it.

The first chapter has been more or less rewritten to flesh out Ivan's parents and give them more of a backstory and to give hints of his upbringing. New scenes will be added to subsequent chapters and I will have more perspectives than just Ivan's. Before we had some with Rocky but we will also have Sofia, Ludmilla, Sasha, Adonis, and Viktor's pov's as well.

Summary: Ivan Drago was never one to outwardly show emotion but that didn't mean he didn't feel it.

I. Alexei and Sofia

Lieutenant Alexei Ivanovich Drago was a drunk weakling. At least that's how his son Ivan always saw him. He hated his father but loved his mother.

In fact he could never understand what she saw in him.

He was a proud member of the Soviet Army and an amateur boxer but had fallen in disgrace. All the years Ivan knew him, the old man was lost to alcohol, self-pity, rage, and hatred.

His father was a weakling who used his anger and fists to dominate others. His mother, Sofia, was technically weak in her own way as well but in a way that made Ivan pity her rather than despise her. She was a small fair haired frail weak hearted woman as compared to her larger dark haired dominant husband.

She had soft hands and a beautiful bird-like soprano voice that soothed her son when he couldn't sleep. When she was younger, Sofia Nikolaievna Vorobey aspired to be a singer. At 12 years old, she left her native Ukraine and the cold orphanage that she had been raised in for two years to study music so she could eventually attend the Moscow Conservatory of Music.

She could have been a great choral or opera singer but instead fell in love with Alexei Drago, a Russian soldier, when she was sixteen and he twenty-seven.

They met after one of Alexei's amateur matches. He left the match full of drink and laughed with his friends about Nikita Khrushchev's recent trip to America, particularly how the premiere was denied the chance to go to Disneyland for security reasons. ("Are they afraid Mickey Mouse will bite him to death?") Of course none of them were bothered in the slightest that they weren't called to guard Khrushchev on his trip.

"Let's admit it, Comrades," Alexei joked to his buddies. "The Americans would be too afraid of us! They know we could beat them."

Alexei's comrades laughed uproariously as Alexei took another swig of his vodka. They were about to cross the street and head for another tavern when a sound interrupted him.

Alexei faced the auditorium where he heard the sound of a woman singing. The voice was clear, high pitched, and mesmerizing. It was almost like a siren's. Alexei walked inside and approached the voice.

He entered the auditorium where a young woman stood in the center. She was dressed like a rag doll in a white schoolgirl dress and a blue ribbon. Her blond hair ran in ringlets and her face was heavily made up.

Alexei did not know much about opera, but he thought her voice was beautiful. She was a pretty good actress too. In the song, her character occasionally stopped singing as though she were a wind up toy going silent. When she was wound back up, she gave the audience a flirtatious saucy grin as she blew a kiss to the man who wound her up.

After the song was over, the young woman turned to an older woman who watched the performance. "How was that Madame Shirmateava?"

Madame Shirmateava, a tall severe looking blond woman in a black dress nodded. "Better than last time, but the bridge still needs improvement."

Alexei couldn't help but applaud. Both the young woman and her teacher looked annoyed. The older woman spoke crisply. "This auditorium is closed."

Alexei smiled and walked closer to the stage. "Can I help it if I am captivated by her voice?"

The young woman blushed and smiled shyly as she walked closer to the edge. Alexei stuck out his hand as she held it. "Jr. Lieutenant Alexei Ivanovich Drago."

"Sofia Nikolievna Vorobey," the girl replied.

"Lieutenant, I insist that you leave," Madame Shirmateava ordered.

"Not unless I am permitted to see your student again," Alexei said.

Sofia blushed and absently removed her wig. The hair underneath was blond but was tied back. She turned to her singing instructor as if to ask whether it was alright. Madame Shirmateava, reluctantly nodded and rolled her eyes. "Would tomorrow suit you?" Alexei asked.

"That would be fine," Sofia agreed.

They dated exclusively for almost one year. They attended dances, parties, had drinks and talked. They both were orphaned at young ages and had no other family members. Sofia's parents died of a fever when she was ten. The orphanage director in Kiev heard her sing and helped get her started on her path. "Many directors are cruel," Sofia said. "But I suppose he was kind enough to recognize something in me." In fact it was the director who referred Sofia to Nina Shirmateava, a singing instructor in Moscow who took in the orphaned girl.

Alexei's mother died of cancer when he was five and he barely remembered her. He was raised mostly by his father who was himself a major in the Soviet Ground Forces Army. Major Ivan Drago raised his son with the strictest discipline and to have respect for the Soviet Union. ("A Stalinist party member to the last," Alexei said.) He taught his son to suspect others and to not trust anyone except his father and not always that. Alexei learned that lesson so well that when his father died fighting the Germans in the War, 13-year-old Alexei withdrew from life for a time but forced himself to snap out of it. "I picked myself up. Never looked back. Of course I acquired a fondness for the bottle after that but who doesn't?"

Nina, Sofia's singing instructor, was not happy about the romance between her protégée and the soldier since she felt that Sofia was throwing away a good career for love. The orphaned Ukrainian girl was like a daughter to her and she was very shy, unworldly, and somewhat featherheaded, practically a child. "That man will break you," Nina insisted after a substandard rehearsal where Nina accused Sofia of having her mind on something, or rather someone, else.

Always by Nina's side was Madame Raissa Cohen, ballet instructor and Nina's closest friend. Many of their students speculated that the two women were more than friends but none ever said so to their faces. Raissa was not as domineering as her friend, often preferred to be kind when Nina was sharp. "You have so much more ahead of you," Raissa said. "Romance will come and go but opportunities like this will only come once in a lifetime."

"I am doing my best," Sofia insisted.

"Not enough," Nina spat. "You are missing rehearsals. Your phrasing isn't as good and your arias are not the same. The Conservatory will never accept you if you continue you as you are now! Either you end things with him or you end your career."

"I love Alexei," Sofia insisted wondering what this old spinster knew about love."Can't I have both?"

"Nyet," Nina insisted. "No woman is ever that fortunate! You will see. If you do not choose, the Conservatory's panel will decide for you."

They did. At her audition, she performed Antonia's portion of the climactic battle in Tales of Hoffman. She sang the song several times but now understood the longing Antonia had caught between the man she loved and the mother (or in her case mother figure) who wanted her to sing. She never sang with such longing and sadness. By the time she finished, she was in tears.

The judges were not moved. They insisted that while she was talented, she would not be permitted to attend the Conservatory

To her credit, Nina Shirmateava was not smug nor did she say she told her so. Instead she walked the sobbing girl home to the rooming house for musical students. She put Sofia to bed and sat outside her room concerned about where she was headed next in her life. All those years of preparation ending in rejection. While she was still young, 17 and had many years ahead of her, Nina knew that Sofia would not see it that way. A loss was a loss. A rejection was a rejection. A defeat was a defeat and it would continue to haunt that girl for the rest of her life.

She had seen many students fall into despair making the wrong decisions that made their lives worse losing themselves to alcohol, drugs, self pity, bad romances, and destructive behaviors that destroyed any potential that they would ever have had.

A sharp knock filled the house as Nina bade Raissa to open the door. Nina glared when Jr. Lieutenant Alexei Drago entered the room. Talking of bad decisions, she thought wryly.

"I would like to see Sofia," he said. Nina was about to refuse but against her better judgement, she knocked on Sofia's door. "It's Drago," she said.

After some hesitation, Sofia exited the room. Her eyes were red rimmed and her face was flushed. She was dressed very primly in a long black skirt and white peasant blouse, but Alexei could see the passion underneath. "I heard. Would you walk with me, Sonia?"

"Nyet you may not," Nina insisted.

Sofia glared at her mentor, cold rage filled her lazy blue eyes. Who was Nina Shirmateava to tell her who she was to be with? She tried her and Raissa's way to be a singer and it was clear that she didn't have it. Why not be like most girls and go out, fall in love, maybe get married and have children? Frankly, she was through listening to these dried up spinsters!

Sofia took Alexei's hand as they walked out. She poured out her feelings over the rejection. Alexei held her tightly. "It is for the best," he whispered.

"How can it be for the best?" She said.

"Well I don't want my wife working now do I?" Alexei joked.

It took a moment before she understood the full meaning of what he just said. Before she could react, he asked for her permission to be his wife. "We are orphans so there is no one else to ask."

Naturally, Nina fumed when Sofia told her she was engaged. "You are a fool and a stupid girl! You are making the worst decision of your life!"

"They rejected me!" Sofia insisted. "What choice do I have?"

"You were rejected by one Conservatory, one-"

"-The best in the Soviet Union as you reminded me," Sofia argued.

"-You can still apply for others, even set your sights lower to teach music," Nina suggested.

"Like you did," Sofia sharply retorted. "I have better things to do with my life than living through the achievements of others to make up for my failures."

Nina hung her head. She had been a stage and film actress in the '30's and '40's but somehow never achieved success. Rather than despairing over the issue, she decided to become a singing and drama instructor and when Raissa's ballet career ended in an injury, the two long time friends decided to combine their resources and become mentors to young girls interested in starting careers in music, drama, and dance.

"So you would rather live them through your husband," Nina countered. "Do you think that man cares for you? He only wants a mother for his children and a housekeeper that he doesn't have to pay. He will never let you be yourself."

"Neither will you," Sofia shot back. "I am marrying him. I love Alexei and he loves me. That is all there is to it."

Nina shook her head. "Then we have nothing more to say to each other. You are alone in this. We will never see each other again. Pozhaluysta ostavite." Please leave. Tears filled Sofia's eyes as she packed her bags, left the dorm room, and joined her fiancé.

It didn't take long for Sofia to realize how right Nina actually was. In fact it took their wedding night. Shortly after the two made love, Alexei looked her up and down and said. "You will have to do better than that if you do not wish me to find it elsewhere."

"I was a virgin until now," Sofia objected. That comment only incensed him further and he struck his wife.

"If you wish to be a good wife, you will not argue with your husband," Alexei growled. Sofia nodded meekly.

She never objected when her husband ordered her about. As a good military wife, she was required to keep the house in order cleaning and scrubbing for hours on end, have meals prepared for her husband the second he walked in, keep her head low, never object to her husband's demands, and always ask his permission. She learned rather quickly.

One day, she stood up from scrubbing the floor. She straightened her back wearily and rested her hand on her womb. Five months pregnant and it felt like an eternity. Sofia hoped her child would be nothing like it's father. Since Alexei would not be home for sometime, Sofia decided to take a break and read the newspaper.

An obituary caught her eye. It said that Nina Shirmateava, music and drama instructor died of ovarian cancer at age 49. Tears filled Sofia's eyes at the loss of her friend and mentor. She realized that Nina may have been ill when she left. Nina's final words: We will never see each other again haunted her. They weren't a threat, a warning. Sofia realized that they were a sad truth that she and the girl who was like a daughter to her never would see each other again in this world.

Sofia's hands shook as she picked up the phone and dialed Raissa Cohen's number. "Privet?" The woman answered. Sofia could tell by that one word that the ballet instructor was filled with an intense grief. Sofia held the phone in dumb silence as Raissa's voice continued. "Privet? Privet?" Hello. Hello. "This is not funny. We are a house in mourning." Sofia could hear the loss in the other woman's voice like someone whose spouse died. Maybe the student's theories about the two women were right.(A month later, Sofia read sadly that Raissa Cohen had followed her friend in death cause uncertain but Sofia wondered if she died of a broken heart.)

Sofia hung up the phone unsure about what to say and knowing that she made the choice to marry and cut ties with her surrogate mother and aunt. Marriage and motherhood took the place of her aspirations. She had to accept that. Nina was right, she was alone in this.

She was literally alone when she went into labor. Alexei was out with his drinking comrades having a good time. Sofia felt a tremendous amount of pain so much that she opened the partition to let the family on the other side know that she was going into labor.

Most families that shared a Khrushchev apartment ignored each other. This was even more so in the military barracks. When the family on the other side screamed at each other, the Dragos did not respond. When Alexei beat and swore at his wife, the family on the other side never called the police because they probably did not want to be a bother. Sofia considered it a miracle that they helped at all. Two women, Sofia knew their names to be Olga and Irina, a mother and daughter respectively, helped the young mother back to bed. Sofia knew there was also a husband, Dimitri, but he was out. She wondered if he was gone for the evening maybe with Alexei.

Olga told Sofia to push while her daughter rubbed her forehead with a wet cloth. She was in such intense pain but continued to push for her child's sake. Finally, the baby emerged from his mother.

Olga cut the cord as she handed the crying little one back to his mother. "He has quite a set of lungs," she said dryly. "He has the look of a fighter in him." Sofia thanked them for their help. Sofia would have liked to be their friends, but they left the next day and she never saw them again.

Sofia looked at her son. He favored his mother completely with fair hair and blue eyes. His features however were those of his father. Alexei. Would Alexei be as happy as she was now? She remembered how fond Alexei was of his late father and she thought maybe in a way that Sofia gave her husband his family back.

When Alexei entered the apartment, Sofia breastfed her son. "What is that?" Alexei asked confused.

Sofia laughed. "That is Ivan Alexeyevich Drago, your son."

Alexei's eyes widened then softened at the realization. "My son? Ivan?" He smiled and looked closely at the boy. "You know there is something of the old man in him. He looks like a fighter already."

"It's what everyone thinks," Sofia said with a laugh as her husband kissed her then his son.

Sofia hoped that fatherhood would mellow her husband and smooth his rough edges but it didn't. He was just as hard and critical as ever. He was extremely impatient with his son ordering his wife to make him stop crying then criticizing her for coddling him. Sofia could do nothing but hold her son and pray that he won't be like his father so filled with rage and anger.

When Ivan was a year and a half old, his father returned home furious. Ivan had lined up his set of toy soldiers on the floor and played quietly with them in the corner. Alexei walked into the house and stepped on one of Ivan's soldiers. He screamed with rage and backhanded his son. Ivan ran to his mother's side in fear.

That incensed Alexei even more.

"Make him be a strong man, not a weakling who runs to his coddling mother!" He shouted.

Sofia comforted her son and reminded him that he must put away his toys so as not to make Papa mad. "Are you alright Alexei?" She asked.

Alexei laughed a chilling laugh. "No I am not. I have been discharged!"

"What happened?" Sofia asked.

Alexei told her. It took place after a boxing match. Alexei was fighting against a younger opponent Ilya Smirnov. Since Smirnov was younger and faster, Alexei had to resort to cheap shots to gain the advantage. He punched him after the bell rang which caused their superiors to stop the fight. Alexei was in such a white heat rage that when a sergeant major attempted to remove him, Alexei struck him. "Apparently it was not the first time," Alexei said. "They claim I have been insubordinate before."

"Well you have a temper," Sofia began. Her husband clenched his fist and glared at her. Sofia backtracked. "What I mean is that you are always right of course with your temper."

Alexei nodded. "Be that as it may, they did not see that." They did not wait for a hearing. Alexei suspected that they were so fed up with his temper that they discharged him on the spot removing his insignias and badges and telling him to leave.

"They have it in for me you know," Alexei said. "They all do! I lost because of them!"

"No it's not your fault," Sofia agreed knowing that different opinions were not a luxury that she was permitted with her husband. "So what happens now?"

Alexei shrugged. "I collect my pension, this fucking government owes me that much at least. Find work I suppose."

"I could as well," Sofia suggested.

Alexei laughed. "And do what? Besides I don't want my wife working!"

"Yes Alexei," she said.

She then felt a tug on her skirt hem as Ivan toddled up to her. "Mama gold'ny," he said putting his hand towards his mouth gesturing that he was hungry.

"Alright Vanyushka," she said. Sofia picked up her son and carried him to the kitchen feeding him his baby food.

Shortly after that, Alexei, his wife, and son moved to the Kapotnya district in Moscow which was the only place he could afford. Sofia hated it but never said anything. The crime, drunken shouting, shootings, and riots feared her nights with terror.

She could tell Ivan did not like it very much either. "Gromko," he said one night covering his ears as a street brawl occurred right outside their window.

"Indeed," Sofia said. "Far too loud."

The only one who adjusted to this environment was Alexei mostly because he found many friends who were like him, former soldiers mostly but also unemployed laborers, former criminals, those who were without hope and spent their nights drinking their troubles away.

Now Alexei was unemployed and unwilling to look for work. Most of the time he either sat at home getting drunk with his friends or go to the smoky pubs and get drunk there. He had a bad temper that couldn't be tamed and when he got mad, he got violent especially after several drinks of vodka.

Ivan sometimes cried in the corner as his father swallowed more drinks and his voice became louder. He told bawdy jokes with his friends, laughed uproariously, and sang Russian folk songs at the top of his lungs usually ranting about the goddamned Leonid Brezhnev and the fucking Politburo and Kremlin.

As he grew and learned about Soviet politics in school, Ivan wondered since Father never was hidden about his dislike of the government, why he hadn't gotten arrested yet. But he realized that nobody wanted to. No one took his father seriously. To his former military comrades he was just a joke, a harmless clown, better left to rot in his obscurity than made into an example.

From an early age, Ivan learned the art and hidden power of staying silent.

He learned that when he was three. His father lay on the couch hungover and Ivan watched Crocodile Gena on television. Alexei ordered his son to keep the sound down or else. Ivan kept it as low as possible and didn't say anything.

On the screen, Gena and his little friend Cheburashka were talking about their latest caper when Gena took out his accordion to sing a silly song. The lyrics made Ivan smile. Before he could stop himself, he laughed. He covered his mouth but the laughter continued through his closed fingers.

It stopped immediately when his father sprang up from his bed. "I thought I told you to be quiet!" He beat his son knocking him to the floor.

"I was being quiet," Ivan insisted. "I'm sorry, Papa."

"Are you arguing with me, malachik?" Boy. "Are you being insubordinate?" With each question, Alexei shook his son.

"Nyet," Ivan whimpered.

"You will learn not to argue with me," Alexei commanded picking his son up by the hair so hard that he actually pulled tufts from his scalp. He then turned his son over and undid his shirt. He then took off his belt and beat his son multiple times.

Ivan cried hot angry tears. He wanted so badly to fight his father or run away from him. He couldn't fight since the man was much bigger than him. He couldn't run because he had to protect Mama. After all, Papa beat her too. The only thing he could do was accept it, let him beat him, and be quiet. Just freeze.

If he argued or disagreed with his father, Alexei always found an excuse to rail on him and beat him severely. Ivan learned that it was best not to say anything at all. So he sat in silence observing his father with equal parts fear and hatred simmering inside him. Sometimes he went through a whole day without saying anything.

The only thing that could bring Ivan out of his self- imposed emotional exile was how his father treated his mother.

One night, Sofia delivered drinks and food to Alexei and his friends. One a very large bearded man, Oleg blocked Sofia's movement with one leg. She turned around but he blocked her path with his other leg. Sofia was terrified caught between this larger man's legs. "Look what I caught," Oleg quipped.

"Careful she doesn't bite," another friend Gleb taunted. The other men laughed. As usual Ivan sat in the corner watching but not speaking. He was terrified what would happen but couldn't stop watching.

Alexei laughed. "Sonia bite? No she is a mouse, a morsel. You should see her in bed much too timid and frigid."

"Please let me go," Sofia begged but Oleg grabbed her by the arms.

"Too timid and frigid?" Oleg mocked. "Maybe we should find out."

"No please," Sofia begged again as Oleg stood up holding her from behind. Sofia screamed as Oleg pushed her to the ground.

"Vlad, Gleb, help me boys," Oleg commanded. Sofia was no match for these larger men. Vlad held her down and Gleb and Oleg removed her clothing. Alexei just laughed and taunted his wife. "If you can't fuck me properly, maybe you will for them!"

Ivan shivered in fear and anger at the sight of his mother nude lying on the ground. He charged towards these men like a manic bull in a blind fury. "You leave my Mama alone!" He said kicking Oleg in the shin.

There was a pause but the men just laughed. "Hey look at the little Cossack riding to the rescue!" Oleg mocked.

"You should get a look son," Alexei said. "You will learn the facts of life." He held Ivan in his arms. The boy struggled to get away. "Don't move. Stay silent." Alexei commanded.

In his father's arms, Ivan wanted to get away but he couldn't. He wanted to turn his head or close his eyes but the image was burned into his brain. The image of his tear stained mother begging for them to stop lying naked on the floor as these grunting slobbering men, no not men pigs raped her one by one. Worst of all was the laughter from his father the satisfied moan like his wife's bad treatment was somehow arousing.

When the men were finished, they stood up. Ivan tumbled to the floor next to his sobbing mother. He helped her rise. She collapsed in the boy's arms and sobbed. But Ivan's eyes were dry.

"Come comrades, we're finished here," Alexei said. "I want to go see what Miriam and her women have in store for us!" He knelt down to his wife and whispered harshly to her. "I told you that I would get it somewhere else now so will you!" Sofia said nothing only cried some more. Ivan kept his eyes fixed on his father. He wished he could kill him right there.

After Alexei and the others left, Ivan practically gathered his mother's clothing. Her hands shook so the young boy helped her dress. "I hate him," Ivan hissed as he helped button his mother's blouse. "I wish he were dead!"

"You mustn't say such things Ivan," Sofia said. "You should hate no one especially not your father."

"I don't care," Ivan insisted. "I wish he were dead! Someday I will fight him and I will beat him!"

That rape became one of several. Sofia waited on her husband and his friends meekly enduring their taunts, catcalls, and that Alexei's friends would continue to strip and molest her, and force her to sing to her husband's laughter and her son's shame.

His father also alluded to the other women he slept with like Miriam who ran a brothel and her prostitutes and how Sofia didn't perform as well as they did.

After she finished serving the men, Sofia ran to her bedroom or the kitchen with tears in her eyes while Ivan followed close behind and comforted her.

Sometimes late at night, Ivan would hear his father's slobbering grunts of satisfaction and his mother's pleas of "Alexei please stop!" and "No," through the partition. He didn't know what it meant but his mother's frightened tears and bruised face in the morning told him that it wasn't good.

Everything about Sofia seemed to convey fragility like a fancy glass object that would break if the least amount of strain was put on her. After her son's birth, her health began to decline. A doctor diagnosed her as having a weak heart. For even that her husband had no pity and continued to rail at and strike her.

During the day, she often tired easily caring for the apartment. Ivan followed her close behind and helped her clean up so as not to anger his father when he came home if the job wasn't finished. He then helped her into bed as though his mother was the child and he was the parent.

Both of his parents had failed in their lives tremendously. Alexei ranted and raved about his losses, accusing them of being part of a conspiracy, and never accepted his own blame. Sofia on the other hand barely talked about her aborted singing career. The only tie she had to it now was to sing lullabies to her son when he couldn't sleep. She did every night and smoothed back his hair until he nodded off.

Ivan thought of his parent's losses and vowed that it would never happen to him. He would never lose. He would always win.

He remembered his mother's death, when he was 7 years old, and that fueled his continuing buried rage.

Alexei was late coming home so late that his supper was cold. He greeted his son with a slap that sent him falling to the ground and his wife with a sharp reprimand and demand of where his supper was. Sofia, heavily pregnant with her second child, bowed and obeyed her husband.

After Alexei tasted his first bite, he stood and railed at his wife asking if she was trying to poison him.

"It was warm an hour ago," Sofia said her bird-like voice trembling.

"What did you say woman what did you say?" he screamed at her then punched her in the stomach.

Sofia collapsed on the floor, her sobs filled the room. Lightning flashed in Ivan's eyes. He darted towards his father and pounded at him with his fists.

He couldn't even make a dent in his father. Instead Alexei Drago laughed and peeled his son off his leg. "Trying to fight your old man are you boy? You're only a puppy, a weak puppy!"

He tossed the boy down and laughed. "I-I am not a weakling," Ivan stammered. "You are!"

Alexei stopped laughing and shook his son hard. "What did you say? You will show proper respect to your father!" He tossed him to the ground.

From where she lay, Sofia screamed. "No Alexei, he's only a child!" She wept as her towheaded son was thrown to the ground. She cried but then suddenly clutched her abdomen and screamed in pain.

"Mama," Ivan screamed running to his mother's side and holding her. He saw the blood emerge from underneath.

Alexei laughed at his wife's condition. Ivan rose in fury and spat at his father. Alexei slapped his son and said, "Quit being hysterical boy! She will be fine! She just exaggerates don't you, Sonia? Get up." Sofia attempted to rise but she fell back down and shook her head. Alexei's laughter got more nervous. "Come now Sonia, rise." She tried again but she couldn't. Alexei became more terrified and yelled at his wife to get up.

Ivan ran out of the apartment and called a neighbor to send for a doctor. He then ran back into the apartment as his father stood by the wall paralyzed with fear, worry, and guilt doing nothing more but sink to the floor and burst into hysterics.

Ivan approached his mother and held her. "It will be alright, Mama," Ivan said. Sofia smiled but her face was ashen.

"You would have been a good big brother," Sofia said knowing that she was about to lose the life inside her.

Ivan didn't care about his unborn sibling. He only cared about his mother. He held her tightly refusing to let go as people came and took her to the hospital.

Losing the baby caused Sofia Drago to lose the will to live. Her heart, never strong to begin with, was completely worn down from the physical abuse and the miscarriage. She was constantly bedridden and ill.

Ivan sat near her talking to her when he didn't like talking to anyone else. He told her everything: events of the day, what was on television, things he learned in school anything that he hoped would take away his mother's grief and pain. Sometimes he begged his mother to sing for him but she never would. Occasionally she offered a thin smile but the sadness was always there.

One day she ran a high fever and she faded in and out. She called her son over. "Vanyushka, you are a strong boy and I know you will be a strong man," she said. "One thing that I ask that you do not hate your father. He is just a sad man who has been defeated. He was once a man who showed love for his country and family.

Now he does not. He shows only hate and anger and that's what defeats him. That makes him see everyone as an enemy. That does not make a person strong. It makes them weak because they have nothing to fight for.

When they have nothing, they are truly defeated and they lose even when they think that they have won. Hate no one and find your own victory. Please don't be like your father."

"I won't be, Mama " Ivan promised. "I won't be weak like him. I will always win."

Sofia lowered her eyes and for a moment Ivan thought he saw disappointment in her lazy blue eyes. She then held her son close. Ivan winced letting tears sting his eyes as he embraced his mother until her heart stopped.

After that everything changed between Ivan and his father. Alexei's drinking escalated to the point where Ivan rarely saw him without a glass of vodka in his hands.

Sometimes late at night Ivan woke up to hear his father sobbing and screaming Sofia's name, begging for her to return and for her forgiveness. Far from being sympathetic, Ivan lay back in bed thinking that if it weren't for that drunk foolish old man his mother would still be alive.

Ivan did everything he could to stay away from his father.

He saw some of the street kids in his home in Kapotnya and how the mob would beat each other bloody for a coat or a fresh piece of meat so he joined them.

Even though he was younger than most of them, he was quick with his feet, fists, and reflexes, and a fast learner so he often got the better of them. His quiet demeanor often helped as many of them yelled before they attacked so Ivan heard them coming. When he attacked, no one noticed until he did.

He jogged and practiced shadow punches. He watched the fighters on television wondering what made them strong and copied their moves. He vowed that he would be like them. He would enter the ring, fight his opponent, and show no mercy. He would then raise his fists in the air in triumph and no one not even his alcoholic father would defeat him.

Sometimes Ivan did odd jobs for people in the neighborhood like shoveling snow, or yard work. He was already a physically strong boy and could work for a long time without tiring. He did the work and accepted the money feeling like an adult who earned his own money in the world. He saved his earnings inside a loose wooden plank under the floor and then use it to buy food for himself and his father. He knew that his mother would never have wanted him to let her husband starve.

It was a good thing too. After his wife's death, Alexei blew his pension money on drink. It would no sooner be in his hands than it would be gone.

In his drunken state, Alexei fought with his son. Alexei glowered and taunted at the boy often egging him on calling him names like "Ivanushka-Durachok", after Ivan The Fool, the imbecilic folk character.

Ivan would not let Alexei get to him. Letting him anger him would be a sign of defeat and weakness. Somehow him standing there silent and glaring angered Alexei more but he could find no defense against it.

The less Ivan spoke and glared his father down, the less likely Alexei was to strike back and somehow Ivan felt some small grain of power against him. However, Ivan knew this stand-down couldn't last forever. Eventually one of them would break.

The break finally occurred on the second anniversary of Ivan's mother's death. He accepted money from a neighbor after he shoveled snow in the back of her house then walked inside his apartment.

Ivan approached his secret hiding place to add this money with the rest, over a month's work, when he started.

The floorboard was open and his secret hiding place was revealed. Ivan felt his hand inside and realized that it was empty.

"Looking for this?" a slurred voice asked. Ivan turned to the sitting room to see his father laying on the settee surrounded by at least twenty empty glasses of vodka. He held up another and swallowed it down. Ivan glanced at the table in horror to see at least twenty more full glasses. He knew where that money went.

"Father that money was for food," Ivan said angrily. Ivan clenched his fists in fury at his father's selfishness that not only did he steal his son's money but he used it to buy alcohol for himself without even a thought for his son.

Alexei chortled as he drank another glass. Ivan noticed that the old man was shaking as though he were having a small seizure. "Oh he speaks," he laughed. "After thinking that he is too good to speak to me he finally speaks! It's a blessed miracle! He doesn't speak to me," He rose on shaking legs as though he rose for the first time that day. Alexei reached over to hit his son then he hit him again. "He hides money from me in my house!" He hit him again. "Money is wasted to give him food and clothing!" He hit him again. "You are no good to anyone not even your mother! I am glad she died so she didn't see what an insubordinate disobedient lying thief of a son she left me with!"

He lay another fist on top of his son but Ivan stopped it, not very well, but he managed to keep it from landing on his head. Alexei drew back in surprise as Ivan seized the opportunity to punch his father.

Unlike the fight when he was 7, Ivan managed to get a few swings in. He wasn't overly impressive but he held his own for a 9-year-old boy fighting against his middle-aged father who was twice his size.

As he punched his father, Ivan screamed at him all of the bottled up rage that lay hidden. "Murderer," he yelled. "You killed her! You broke her! I will kill you!" He pounded on him again and again.

The element of surprise plus the slower reflexes by the nonstop drinking binge caused Alexei to not react at first. When he did, he pulled his son off him and, like when the boy was 7, knocked him to the ground.

He shook and was out of breath as he approached his son. His eyes were unfocused as though he were delirious and couldn't find his son. He swore and beat his son once before he fell to the ground.

Despite what happened before, Ivan was terrified. Seizures ripped through his father's body as he collapsed on the ground. His mouth choked with vomit as some poured out of his mouth but Alexei began to choke and Ivan suspected some of the vomit remained inside his mouth.

Alexei looked up at his son, his face flushed and his delirious eyes unfocused. "Ivan help me please," Alexei begged.

Ivan stepped back. He remembered his father's punches towards his mother. He purposely took a couple of slow steps backward to give his father false hope. "Yes good boy, Ivan send for a doctor," Alexei pleaded, his body shaking constantly.

Ivan remembered his father's laughter as his wife lay on the ground before her miscarriage and as his friends passed her around like a trophy and stripped her before they raped her. Ivan remembered his mother's tears as his father screamed at and struck her. Ivan deliberately stopped.

"Ivan," Alexei said. "What are you doing boy? Send for a doctor." Alexei Drago winced as he realized that his son would do no such thing.

Ivan stood over his father. He only said four words. "Don't move. Stay silent."

Alexei choked as blood and vomit emerged from his mouth. He soiled himself looking more disgraceful than Ivan had ever seen him. "Damn you," Alexei hissed before he shook one more violent time as life was leaving him.

Since neither of his parents had any living relatives, Ivan was sent to a state run orphanage. Because of his silent demeanor, many of the authorities thought the boy was in shock because of his father's death. After all they reasoned that it must have been a traumatic experience for a 9-year-old to be left alone as his father succumbed to alcohol poisoning right in front of him.

They thought at first he was mentally deficient but after a week of him not responding and the instructors talking over him, Ivan said aloud, "I am not mentally deficient." His answer settled that debate.

The orphanage was understaffed and overcrowded. There were at least five children to a bed and the nights were filled with children quarreling over who got the most sheets or the biggest cut of food during meals.(Ivan quite often had the advantage.) Still there never was enough food to go around and the building was always noisy, crowded, and cold.

Mikhail Berchenko, the director required the strictest discipline especially among the oldest orphans. They were required to stand and march in formation. They were discouraged from listening to music, posting pictures in their rooms, having personal possessions, or doing anything that showed individuality.

There were many infractions and a penalty system was established so if an orphan disobeyed, then he would certainly be punished either by whippings, isolation, or other means at their display. Ivan once was caught fighting with another orphan.

The other orphan, Yuri taunted Ivan about his mother. "So where's yours?" he asked.

"She's dead," Ivan answered.

"Probably of syphilis no doubt," Yuri laughed getting some of the bigger boys to laugh right along with him.

Ivan didn't know what syphilis was but he knew his mother didn't die from it. "No, she had a weak heart."

The others laughed. "No it was probably syphilis, that's how all whores die!"

"My mother was not a whore!" Ivan commanded.

"Of course, she was," Yuri said. "How else did you end up here? How did any of us end up here?" He was about to say more when Ivan sprang up and beat the other orphan.

The loud cheers and shouts caused Berchenko to run at the sound. He pulled the two boys apart from each other. "Now what is the meaning of this?"

"Drago jumped me for no good reason," Yuri said.

"He called my mother a whore," Ivan shouted.

"Both of you will be punished," Berchenko commanded.

The two boys were made to stand outside in the snow only in their boxers and undershirts in different shifts. Yuri went first. When it was Ivan's turn he elbowed him. Ivan made a fist but did not aim.

The workers knew that none of the older children would ever be adopted so they accepted they would be there until they reached maturity therefore the adults were free to do whatever they wanted to do to them and that included physical, mental, and sexual abuse. Berchenko had his pick of which children that he engaged in private sessions. Every night he called one to his private chambers where they would be subjected to brutal torture including whippings, beatings, rape, and others.

The children would do whatever they could to get out of it. Sometimes they begged or screamed to be left alone. Others would turn on other children hoping that Berchenko would go easy on them if it meant hurting another child. Sometimes Ivan would hear another child scream and cry during the night either because they were being abused or because they suffered from nightmares of it.

Ivan never cried when it was his turn. He just accepted it and froze never saying anything or reacting. Instead just like with his father, he remained silent and defiant. Inwardly they frightened him but outwardly he would never show it. To admit fear was a sign of weakness and he would never do that never again.

He lay awake during the night staring at the stars and thinking about people like his father and Mikhail Berchenko.

His father was a weak man defeated by life and took that defeat out on his family. As much as he loved his mother, she was weak too because her love for her husband and her own regrets left her at his mercy. She never defended herself nor her son and while Ivan still loved her, he also began to hate her too for her vulnerability.

Mikhail Berchenko gained power by abusing children. Ivan swore he would never be like any of them.

They tried to make him feel powerless but instead Ivan felt stronger. That anger would fuel him and turn him into someone who could not be defeated, someone who had power, someone who would always be the victor.

No Ivan Drago would not cry. Instead he vowed that he would train. He would fight. He would win. He would always win.

Author's Note:

1. As Russian readers will know Vorobey is not an actual surname in Russia. It means "sparrow." I thought since Sofia would marry a man whose family name was one letter off from dragon her name should also be an animal name to reflect her singing and fragile nature.

2. While not named the aria that Sofia performs when Alexei first meets her is "The Doll Song" from Tales from Hoffman. She is playing the part of Olympia, an automated doll who catches the eye of Hoffman, who is unaware that she isn't human. Her aria is sung as she winds down leaving her handler to wind her back up again. The opera is also referred to again when Sofia sings the part of Antonia, who as the narrative explains is caught between her love for Hoffman who wants her to give up singing for fear it may kill her and her love for her mother who was once an accomplished singer.

3. Nina Shirmataeva and Raissa Cohen are NOT original characters. They come from a YA novel that I read several times in high school called The Awakening. Nina is the protagonist who at the time was a young teenage girl during the Stalinist 1930's and went to a music and dance conservatory with the hopes of becoming and actress and singer. Raissa Cohen is her best friend, a premiere ballerina at the school. The book goes through Nina's youth as she is abused by her sadistic grandmother, cares for her weak-willed mother (much like Sofia), and has two romances one with Vakhtang, a film director while she is still a minor and he is a grown man and another with Viktor, a male ballet student who ultimately leaves her for another woman. (Who ironically is also named Ludmilla.) The book ends with Nina and Raissa deciding to live together and care for Raissa's mother who had been released from a Soviet prison after the death of her husband and Raissa's father. The book never comes right out and says whether or not Nina and Raissa are lesbians or have a lesbian romance but there is evidence to suggest that they might be. (While Nina is involved with two men as I said, Raissa's romances are never discussed and when Nina does get involved with Viktor, the dancer, Raissa reacts in a way that suggests she is extremely jealous. Also the last line of the book is Nina thinking about Raissa and her mother and saying that she "had someone who loved her at last."

3. I enjoyed looking up Russian and Soviet Culture for this fanfic. It was a lot of fun looking up everything from district names, currency amounts, baby names, food, historic events, and mythological characters. I experienced much of it for the first time except one notable exception. I already knew of Ivanushka-Durachok, because my younger sister loved a Russian cartoon called The Magic Pony. (Or the Humpback Pony). Ivanushka-Durachok is the main character. I also knew of Grandfather Frost thanks to the MST3K episode . ("Alright that's it. You just opened up a sled full of whoopass, Frost.")

4. The repetitions of each chapter ending with "Ivan would not cry" is because this fic started out as a "Five Times Ivan Drago Did Not Cry (And One Time He did)" But this fic got too long and wordy for that, so I changed the format but I still liked the chapter endings since a lot of this fic deals with the theme of concealing and revealing emotion.