Chapter 488: Not A Lot, Just Forever

[FROLO]

Sergei stared at the body on the bed, and for the first time since Vitya, he felt a switch inside him flip.

He’d been good.

Had tried to be the person Vitya was proud of.

The person Katya wouldn’t be terrified by.

He’d been rational even at his most insane habits. He still had an anchor that led him home. He’d let himself believe that life was really worth something.

And when he massacred people, he only went after those he believed had direct involvement, not the system behind it all.

Sergei had been good, fuck.

He’d been patient, selective, and followed every little thing his Vitya had taught him. Every little thing, having Katya around, had taught him to cherish.

He’d tried to be normal. To live in the present. To forget about the histories of who he had been.

He had been rational through and through.

But seeing Boris on the bed unearthed the same feeling that evening, three decades ago.

The day he’d come home and saw Yaroslav with scratches from bullying at school.

The day he’d seen the son of his beloved with red, swollen eyes and a defeated stance.

The day he’d had to watch helplessly as Vitya insisted Yaroslav be kind even to those who hurt him.

Sergei remembered it all.

That feeling. That rage. That switch that had flipped.

The one that Vitya had flipped back and forced him to learn restraint. To be kind. To be normal even when normal meant letting go of a few things.

Sergei could not have done it if he didn’t want to.

Yet now, as he looked at Boris on the bed, he could feel it all come back.

The pure, unfiltered rage.

The uncontrolled desire to kill. Kill. And kill.

The unhinged desire to punish even if it cost him everything.

He had a home. He had a family.

He had people who stood by him.

But hearing Boris make the admission reminded Sergei that no matter how good he was. No matter how much he tried to clear the path home. No matter how much help he had...

...there was never going to be a peaceful home.

Someone was always going to come and try to fill in the blanks.

Which was why, as Sergei knelt on that floor, he made a new promise.

A new oath.

Maybe Katya would never love him again.

Maybe Yaroslav would never see him the same way again.

But they would be safe.

They wouldn’t have to look over their shoulders anymore.

And with the evolution of technology, Sergei would make sure no one forgot what he was going to do.

No one.

Pulling out his phone from his pocket, Sergei made a call.

Not home to Katya.

Not home to Yaroslav.

To the four he had met. The four who had been his link to normalcy.

The four people he had learned to be free around.

"Buran?" Timur was the first to speak in the conference call.

"Are you alright, man? Your breathing..." Pavel asked worriedly.

"Don’t tell me Garik snitched about the party we were planning," Milos grumbled.

"I did not snitch. You just did, you untrained mouth," Garik scoffed.

And Sergei...

He listened to them bicker.

Listened to the part of normalcy beyond the family he had gotten for himself.

The kind that Katya had taught him.

And when he didn’t speak for the fourth minute, they all got concerned.

"You okay, man?" Pavel asked again.

"You guys need to leave the city when this call ends. I... What I’m about to do... Take your families. Leave. If you need funds, I’ll send you enough to keep you from the city for a year.

"You can come back after the year ends... To... whatever remains of it anyway," Sergei said into the call, and the six who were in the room stiffened.

They knew that tone.

They were there back then.

Yet none of them tried to talk him out of it.

Boris had crossed a line that Sergei had not imagined he would cross.

The admission had been the most vile of things, and they couldn’t even say it was a mistake or even the drugs.

It was Boris.

The man was proud of his work.

Of what he had cost Sergei.

What he had done to Katya.

"What you will do..." Milos trailed off.

"I’m sorry I came into your lives... I... I thought... I thought I’d have a semblance of normal. But I can’t. Each day different people keep proving it.

"I can’t... I can’t continue being... I can’t hide what I am. Who I am..." Sergei said quietly, the defeat and pain in his voice the one thing that he had not even been prepared for himself. He had wanted a normal life with Katya.

But now all he had was just nothing.

And he knew he would mourn it eventually.

The casual chats.

The way things had gotten complicated.

The way he had tried and failed spectacularly.

He had tried.

"Buran..." Timur tried, and Sergei laughed sadly at that.

"I hope when this is over, you remember me as that. Buran," Sergei said quietly.

A few steps away, Rastenkin and Elara froze at that name.

Buran.

Or as they knew it before... project B.U.R.A.N

And they shared a look.

Because it was the only tell that young Sergei had been conscious when his family had been eliminated, before they saved him.

"I thought... I thought I could be Buran for as long as things were fine. But at the end of the day, people keep reminding me that I am Sergei. The Devil of Frolo," Sergei sighed shakily.

He’d really loved being a normal person.

He’d wanted to be better.

He’d tried to be better.

And now...

Now he had to retire every ounce of normalcy he thought he would have because people just wouldn’t let him be normal.

And he was tired of trying to hold onto it.

Of trying to be this kind of man whose violence was motivated by morality.

Sergei knew what he was.

And he knew those who called him the devil were not wrong.

He had only been trying to survive for Katya.

To be normal for his son.

But now...

He was sure he would never have it.

He was not made for it.

People like him belonged in the darkness instead of trying to reach out for light. Because light had simply dimmed out some of the darkness.

There was no point holding onto it anymore.

"When the call ends... Leave the city. Take your families and anyone you can take along. Because if you leave them here... They will be collateral damage. So... Please," Sergei said.

And before they could say anything, he hung up.

He knew they would ask him what was wrong. What they could do to help. How they could fix something. It was the kind of NORMAL Sergei had needed from them.

But now there was no normal.

Not anymore.

He had woken up with the intention of visiting the president, and then going back home to Katya.

But now...

Now he couldn’t go home.

He’d never be able to go home.

And he made peace with that the moment he felt the switch.

The city wanted a monster.

Sergei was fine no longer tethering it with humanity.

"Blow this room up. Leave nothing untouched," Sergei said to the Myrtles.

"You two, with me. These politicians wanted press so much, I’ll give them one," Sergei said to Rahim and Volkov, as he grabbed Boris’s head by the hair.

Then walked out.