I. Am. So. Sorry.

School has literally shoved a shoe up my ass and I have a major backlog of work (and it's only October, what joy!). As such, my work on fanfiction has been slow at best, and especially because 1) I am not good at writing Russia and 2) I lost a hell of a lot of motivation to write this story. When I did work on this, it would mainly be world-building and, while fun, it didn't really help me shape out this story a whole bunch. Character backstory, yes. The actual chapter, not at fucking all.

But that just means that you guys are going to get an intermission that is chock full of world nonsense. Yes, that is how much stuff I have, and I am more than willing to share it all with you.

The new Queen of Clubs was, in Ivan's opinion, an odd woman.

He was expecting someone similar to his mother, in nature. Calm, yet stern, and willing to nurture and protect if need be it. He imagined them to be about the same age, yet she would submit to him, because that's how things worked. The woman submitted to the man, so, logically, the Queen would submit to the King.

It had been three days since Elizabeta and the Jack had been brought to the Capital, and it was clear now that she was not a woman that fit into the logical category.

The first day she refused a tour of the castle (though the Jack took it with a gratitude), found the armory, too a broadsword, and for the rest of the day was found walking through the halls with her hand on the hilt. The next day she wore pants and a shirt as she consulted with the council and passed a whole slew of bills that made them fly into a rage and forcefully kick her out of the room.

The third day was one that brought a surprised to Ivan. Katyusha had come into his room and demanded him to talk to the new Queen.

"I thought you did not care about what new laws would be passed after I came to power?" Ivan asked, the light green Luxes accenting the small scar on his eldest sister's chin.

"No, I said that I would support laws that you would pass." She said, shoulders tense and glaring at her brother. "But the Queen… she's destroying everything Отец made. Even Natalya is upset!"

Ivan's expression changed from calm to furious in record time, fist slamming into a Lux and shattering the jewel. He grit his teeth at the sharp pain that shot up his arm, and the feeling of warm blood running down his fingers. "Ivan is not a man we should look up to."

"He was family!"

"He was also a tyrant, he scarred you, he nearly killed Мама more than once, and he kept Natalya and you from learning and being human." Ivan growled, examining his wounds. "I will talk to the Queen, as it is inevitable in the end, but there is no guarantee that I will revoke her laws when I don't even know them."

Now that he stood in front of the royal throne room, he could feel butterflies in his stomach. This was his soon-to-be wife he would be talking to, and yet it was likely that this conversation would end in a shouting match.

(Deep down, he knew that this wasn't for Katyusha or Natalya or Мама, but rather for himself. He would not realize this for nearly a year, but it would slowly seep through his thick skull and he would be proud to know that he stood strong alongside Elizabeta)

The doors were never silent. Thick stone scrapped against the ground and cause an ear-wrenching grinding noise to echo through the castle. He steeled himself, the red Lux in his staff burning with an unbridled passion as he entered the room.

His first thought when his eyes landed on the Queen were, by Terran, she's beautiful.

There was no easy way of knowing the true color of her skin or hair, as the Luxes above them tinted everything a sickly green, but regardless her form radiated power and beauty. She stared out one of the windows, looking at the underground capital illuminated beneath her. She dressed in a loose shirt and pants, which were tucked into leather boots. Like the first day she arrived, her hand rested on a sword's hilt, and a shield with the royal kingdom's emblem laid abandoned at her feet.

This was his soon-to-be wife, and he could not have been a luckier man.

"I suppose you are here because of what happened with the council." Her gaze did not waiver from the city, stone buildings rising from the ground like the Ice Ghouls that roamed the caps above. "And you are here to strengthen their ruling, correct?"

"You are wrong with both of your assumptions, моя королева." Ivan moved closer to the woman, the throne room still unfamiliar despite having lived in the new castle for more than a year. "I simply wish to know what you did to anger them to the point where my own sister is demanding I talk to you."

"Are they really that angry with me?" She chuckled dryly, before turning to Ivan, tossing him a scroll of parchment that she had held in her free hand. The new King unrolled it and read over the messy handwriting of the Queen's. In the back of his mind, he made a mental note to get her a tutor to teach her how to write something more legible.

1.Women will receive equal pay as a man in their position.

2.Women are not bound to the whims of a man and are allowed an education

3.Neither race nor nationality are signs of limitation in a job, if they qualify and meet your demands, they are eligible for hire.

4.Women are eligible for application in the Club's naval forces and military, so long as they meet the requirements for a male to enter.

Ivan read and re-read the parchment, expecting something truly scandalous to pop up out of the four lines. Nothing jumped out and screamed "Horrible and wrong" at him, so he flipped it over to see if there was anything on the opposite side.

No, nothing. Just the four proposed laws on the front.

"I understand that these are not popular opinions in Clubs, but they are necessary if we need to compete with Spades and Hearts, especially after the War." The Queen continued, and Ivan noticed that her grip on the sword's hilt had tightened. "But we need to progress, and we need to improve our policies if we even want to stand a chance."

"Does it look like I do not agree with you?" Ivan asked, a faint smile flickering across his face as he gently brushed his thumb over the dried ink. "I want to change my kingdom as well, моя королева. The only thing my father and I share is our name."

The Queen's eyes lit up brighter than any Lux, brighter than the sun, and the smile that spread across her face could have blinded the masses. "I- What about the council, won't they oppose this?"

"The council can be remade, or be forced to listen to us. My father's reign is over, it is time for us to rule the throne." Ivan took Elizabeta's hand in his with a genuine smile, and he could feel unadulterated glee radiating off of her, as well.

We will rule, Ivan thought, and we will not fall. We will bring Clubs to glory, and all will bow below our power.

Please forgive me if my Russian is bad, as I used Google Translate to find these words. Corrections are appreciated!

Отец - Father

Мама - Mother (kinda obvious)

моя королева - My Queen

I was originally going to name Ivan's father Boris, which comes from the rulers of the House of Godunov. Then I remembered the Russian ruler who killed his wife and kid, but it turns out Russia here already shares his name. Then I remembered in Europe it was kinda common for rulers to name their children after themselves, so the previous king is Ivan I, and the current one (Russia) is Ivan II.

With other notes which take a darker turn, I headcannon Ivan's 'father' (both in cannon and in this AU, as there was the Mongol tribes and other ancestors for our current countries) as being a gigantic shithead. Referring to this AU, it's supposed to be a mix of medieval history and fantasy tales (you know, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, all those good Grimm tales), so women were incredibly oppressed and had little rights and damn near no education. However, I wanted Clubs (which I took heavy inspiration from Russia) to be behind all the other kingdoms, meaning that Spades, Hearts, and Diamonds all recognize females as near-equals (I say equal because even today there's still a lot of discrepancies between the two genders). This means that most travelers that come from the other kingdoms find these practices pretty damn archaic, and often prefer to stay out of the major cities.

The reason why the Kingdom is so behind can be accredited to the Braginski bloodline, which travels back about 300 or so years in Deck (which are somewhat longer than the years on Earth). Every King ignored their queens, only having them to continue the bloodline and be seen as a 'successful suitor,' in a way. They constantly passed laws that would continue to oppress women and keep men in positions of powers, which ended with Ivan I's death which pushed Ivan II (who was sixteen, at the time) into his position of power.

In Natalya's chapter, it was clear that the capital city was aboveground. However, there is a good nine year gap between this chapter and the previous one, and a lot of stuff happens (which will be explored in an extra) that forces everyone in the capital underground. In otherwords, this is not a weird plothole, nor is this 'discrepancy' caused by me being incompetent, there is an actual reason why this happened.

Luxes (Lux, singular) are glowing stones that provide light. For our A:tla fans, these are similar to the stones that light the correct path in the Secret Tunnels, and the stones found underneath Ba Sing Se. However, above ground they are useless, as they need to be connected to non-illuminant stones to properly work, and even then in the sunlight they have the strength of a glowstick. In Clubs, however, they are used as a kind of streetlight in the underground cities and provide enough light to navigate. The Lux Ivan has in his staff is an exception because it is of a red variety (the most common color and used Lux is Green), which can function so long as it close to some form of stone.