Chapter 19

Sergei stared at the vile beast of a man who stood on the other side of the glass window and flinched. That disgusting smirk lay on his lips and it conjured up memories from Sergei's days of being a trainee. It was always that smirk he saw day in and day out and to see it now to this day, Sergei wondered why he never tore his lips from his face before.

Launching himself from the railing, Dragunov flew through the glass and straight into Mikhail. He landed a hard blow to his face before quickly being pushed off. Before he would give Sergei a chance to recover, Barclay ran at him with a loaded fist, laughing like a maniac as he delivered it to Sergei's face.

"I'm so glad you decided to come back, Dragunov," he said as he cracked his knuckles.

Wiping the blood from his lip, Sergei rose to his feet and pulled out one of his handguns. At the sight of the gun, Mikhail raised an eyebrow. "Playing dirty now are we?" Though the room was dim, the only source of light being the moonlight coming in from the shattered window, Mikhail could see that a smirk tugged on Sergei's lips. He didn't come here to have a fair fight.

Quickly, Mikhail took a dive behind his desk as Sergei began to fire off his rounds. It didn't take long for the bullets to quiet and Mikhail listened closely as he heard the former commander take cautious steps towards him. Just as he counted the seventh step he heard, he grinned and unlatched a grenade from his belt. It was true; Sergei bringing his weapons to this fight only leveled the playing field.

Peeking out from his desk he threw the grenade at Sergei who hastily leaped to the side at the sight of the explosive. Aside from the noise brought on by the blast, Sergei could hear Mikhail's laughter piercing the air as his person stood tall and poised. Grunting, Sergei fired a bullet straight at Mikhail's chest only to have it deflected.

Looking down at his ruined uniform, Mikhail shrugged. "That stung, Dragunov. But did you forget? This place is a military base. Bulletproof armor is built here." He smiled then pulled out his own revolver. He fired it, but as in Mikhail's nature to toy with the enemy, he shot at Sergei's hand, sending his gun flying and shattering. He looked down at Sergei's shocked face and smirked. "You've gotten rusty, Dragunov. What? Use up all of your spunk on that girlfriend of yours?"

Sergei couldn't believe the speed Mikhail had when he had fired that shot. There was no aiming involved. It was all instantaneous.

"Speaking of which," Mikhail continued, "Where is she anyways? I was actually planning on doing some experiments on her…See how long it would take for her to scream my name…" He glanced down at Sergei just in time to see him pounce on him, his eyes filled with rage. Sergei's fingers found their way around Mikhail's broad neck and he squeezed mercilessly. "Now this," Mikhail forced out, "is the Dragunov I want to fight…" He smirked even as the air failed to enter his lungs.

Upon seeing the smug look on his face, another flare of anger was sent through Sergei and he soon found himself holding his knife, attempting to shove the blade into his opponent's mouth. He would have succeeded had it not been for Mikhail who actually caught the blade in the nick of time. Even caught in a struggle for his life, Mikhail's mood never seemed to sway. He was a hollow shell.

As Sergei continued to push the blade downward, the tip finally reached the other man's lip. Just a little more pressure and he would be piercing the skin and literally ripping the smirk from Mikhail's face. Yet as he was about to do so, he felt a hard blow to his stomach. Looking down, he found it was Mikhail's fist. Yet that meant, for a mere fraction of a second, there had been a shortage of resistance on the other end of the blade. Looking back at Mikhail's face, he saw that in that short span of time, he had created a cut that ran from the bottom of his lip up his cheek to the corner of his eye.

As he studied the new scar he had made on his opponent, Mikhail landed a fist to the side of his head, throwing him off. He ran a finger over his fresh cut and said, "Do you see this, Dragunov? No human would be able to do this to another. Only things like us can do this without feeling remorse."

Sergei, still a little dizzy from that latest blow he received, got to his feet and pulled out his second gun as Mikhail while was doing the same. "Stop believing you can change," Mikhail said as he took aim at Sergei. "Stop this futile attempt at trying to live a normal life." Dragunov took an aim at Mikhail. "Stop deluding yourself." Simultaneously they fired their bullets.

Anna gasped as the bullet pierced through the side of her stomach. Had it not been for the uncomfortable position she had Nina in, she was sure the bullet would have been planted elsewhere. Nevertheless, she was beginning to lose blood, lots of it.

She watched as Nina got to her feet and walked over to hover over her. "You should've just walked away…Now it's too late." Nina aimed the gun at Anna's forehead, prepared to pull the trigger until the brunette, after having gathered all her strength, pushed herself up and bashed her sister's chin with her knee. The gun landing beside Anna's feet.

With a hand on her bullet wound, Anna weakly bent over to pick up the firearm just as Nina was recovering from the hit she received. She looked up at the brunette and quickly found their roles reversed as she was staring up at her own pistol.

"Nina…" Anna whispered. She looked her blonde sister in the eyes and saw a flicker of what she believed to be fear. As Nina was a trained assassin, Anna doubted it was because she was afraid of losing her life. "Let me help you, Sister," she continued, "Let me lead you to the only man you've ever trusted…" She took a few steps closer towards her. "I'll return you to Daddy, just as you would've wanted."

Although Anna was within reach and wounded, Nina couldn't find it in herself to defend herself. She could have grabbed her, snatched the gun from her, but she couldn't. She felt utterly hopeless and weak. "Let me grant you your wish." Those were the words she heard before a bullet escaped the gun.

Both Sergei and Mikhail took a dive to the side as soon as they both fired their weapons. However even with their haste, their bodies still received the bullets; Sergei's to his side and Mikhail's to his shoulder. Ignoring the pain that raced through his body, Dragunov continued firing at the other man, this time damaging his arms, thighs, and even grazing his neck. There were countless shots fired at his chest as well, but all seemed ineffective due to the armor he wore underneath.

"Bastard…" He heard Mikhail mutter as he watched him stumble. He looked down at the gun he had dropped during Sergei's onslaught of bullets and with a shaky hand began reaching for it. Yet before he could even place a finger on it, Sergei's boot fell upon it.

Looking up at the pale man, Mikhail couldn't hide his grin any longer. Straightening himself so that they were eye to eye, he whispered, "So this is it, eh Dragunov…?"

Sergei held his gun up against his chest, point blank, and fired, shattering the bulletproof shell and sending Mikhail backwards. He crashed into the wall behind him and began sliding down until he was down on the floor, shards of glass surrounding him, looking up at the White Angel of Death.

The Angel stood before him, silent as usual, and seemed to be waiting for Mikhail to choose his final words. With a gentle smile on his face, Barclay shut his dark eyes and whispered, "You always managed to stay human, Sergei. No matter how much you killed, no matter how much I broke you down, you were still able to cling to your humanity. How…?"

Sergei gave no reply as he tossed aside his current gun, which was now empty of ammunition, and pulled out the final weapon from his holster. Kliment's pistol.

Tiredly, Mikhail opened his eyes and looked up at him with empty, soulless eyes. From Sergei's point of view, he almost resembled a sad child. "What does it feel like to be alive, Sergei?"

At the question, Sergei froze as he contemplated the answer. You feel guilt and remorse, helpless and lonely, always yearning for company…The images of all the acquaintances he had made throughout his quest, from Markov to Lars, filled his mind. But you find value and…friendship, someone worth fighting for. It's as painful as it is enjoyable. He looked down at his hand and could almost feel the warmth of Anna's hand on it as he thought of her. Yet despite the insecurities, I find myself smiling and looking forward to the future…

He turned his attention back down to the tyrant and placed Kliment's pistol against his forehead. "Let me show you…" He whispered.

With a smile on his bloody face, Mikhail shut his eyes once again and muttered, "How fitting that I don't even get to die the way I want to…Instead, I die to a damn human…"

As Mikhail chuckled away quietly, Sergei interrupted him as he spoke the final words the SPETSNAZ leader would ever hear. "This is for Kliment…" With that said, he squeezed the trigger…

After firing the bullet, Anna dropped the gun and stared down at Nina's shocked face. She was still alive as a smoking bullet lay in the ground beside her. "As if I'd ever let you be happy," Anna said cruelly. "I'll let you wait out the rest of your life alone." With blood streaming from her side, the beautiful brunette began to walk past her sister. "I'm no longer going to be walking in your shadow."

Before Nina could register all that had happened, Anna was already gone, the only evidence that she ever stood before her being the drop of blood that had dripped onto her leg. She doubted that she would ever see her again. Anna, the only person left from her previous life, was gone.

Stumbling through the rain-soaked deserted city, Anna eventually found herself falling to the floor, all of her stamina depleted with each pint of blood that poured from her. Not here, she told herself. Not by myself…

Suddenly a red figure entered her line of view at the same time a cry was received by her ears. "Anna!" The voice was familiar, but for the time being Anna was too exhausted to try to remember who it belonged to. The figure, although blurry in her eyes, came running towards her and before she knew it, Anna found herself being supported by the raven-haired female soldier. "Anna, are you alright?"

She didn't respond as she began to shut her eyes. All she wanted was to sleep. Just as her mind was about to drift off, the image of her favorite Russian soldier formed in her mind. "I'll be waiting…" she mumbled before her world went blank.

Weeks passed after the death of Mikhail Barclay and all of Russia had begun to calm down as the truth of SPETSNAZ was finally revealed. The truth had been unsettling, bizarre even, but surprisingly, the people were willing to put their faith back in their hands so long as they did one thing.

As Sergei was sleeping peacefully in his hospital bed, his room filled with get-well gifts galore, a sudden rampage was heard down the hall accompanied by some shouts and cries from nearby doctors and nurses. The riot eventually reached Sergei's door causing the soldier to open his steel-blue eyes and let out a sigh.

Annessa, who had been at his bedside, saw he had awoken and smiled. "Good morning there, Sergei. I hope you had a nice sleep." Before she could get an answer, the door swung open and a hoard of news reporters, soldiers, and doctors alike stumbled in, all of them yelling something or another. "Oh my," Annessa let out.

A blonde reporter, who was at the moment, crushed beneath a doctor and a cameraman, extended out her microphone and asked, "So Mr. Dragunov, have you put some thought into what your decision will be?"

Pulling the thin covers over his head, Sergei turned his back to the pile of people and shut his eyes. He was too exhausted to deal with this so early in the morning. He had gone through countless surgeries throughout the weeks, some were to remove bone chips, others to reconnect tendons and ligaments, and there were some to fix nerve damage. For the moment all Sergei felt like was jelly.

Seeing as how Sergei didn't want to answer yet, the journalist, being a professional as she was, wormed her way out of the mass of people and looked into one of the cameras, "It seems as if Mr. Dragunov is still contemplating his answer. That comes as no surprise however…"

"…for taking over SPETSNAZ is no easy endeavor. After all we've been through, it's going to be a long road to recovery and trust, but the people have decided that Sergei Dragunov may be able to speed that process up." Before the blonde reporter could say more, a doctor shoved her out of the way and soon the camera was turned upside down as voices began to mingle once again. Lars, seeing as how that was going to be the end of the news report, reached for the remote and flipped the television off, a gentle smile on his face.

"So you did it, Sergei…I hope Anna could see you now, wherever she is…"

Upon hearing of the deed Sergei Dragunov had performed, the people were willing to accept SPETSNAZ as their protectors if, and only if, Commander Dragunov took over as leader. They would trust no one but. Yet between the lines, Sergei knew that in asking him to be their protector, they were also asking him for their forgiveness. They wanted to apologize for allowing his name to be slandered, for turning their backs on him as they believed he had done to them. They wanted to show him that he had their faith and always will.

Once everyone was shoveled out of Sergei's room, and the doctor bolted the lock, silence once again regained its spot in the room allowing Sergei to remove his head from his covers. Annessa, seeing how childish he was behaving, couldn't suppress the giggle that escaped her lips. Not seeing the humor in having his privacy invaded while he was recovering, Sergei kept the frown on his face as he stared at her.

"I'm sorry Sergei," she said, "I didn't mean to be rude. I'm just glad to see that you're doing better is all." As she watched Sergei shift himself into a sitting position, her face took on a look of seriousness as she asked, "So have you decided, Sergei?"

Staring down at his pale hands, Sergei had to admit, he didn't know the answer. His hands had taken so much lives, was he truly fit to help these people? It was true that when he had first met Lars, this is what he had wanted. It was the only way for him to make up for his sins. Yet now, when the opportunity was practically knocking on the doorstep, Sergei wasn't sure.

Suddenly he felt Annessa's hands lay themselves on his own and he was soon looking into her eyes. "I don't want to make the decision for you," he heard her say, "But I will tell you that these people need you. I know of your past crimes, we all do, but for those of us who are living now and…will be in the future…Those things don't matter."

"I can't pretend they never happened," Sergei replied.

"But don't let it condemn you." The grip she had on his hands tightened. "You've proven that a person can change. Don't let your past sins determine who you truly are."

After about a month of recovery, Sergei exited the hospital. Now, donned in the brown uniform of a SPETSNAZ official, he entered the building of his workplace, passing countless soldiers who saluted him along the way, and headed to the elevator. Boarding it to the uppermost floor, he exited and headed down the hall where he eventually found himself standing before two big wooden doors. He grabbed ahold of one of the golden doorknobs and opened it up before finally stepping into his new office. It had been renovated after its last…scuffle but now its appearance rightfully suited its occupant. After setting down his suitcase, Sergei took his seat at the mahogany desk and lifted his pen. It was time to begin his first day as SPETSNAZ Leader.

Author's Notes: And there you have it, the conclusion to Call of the Bluebird…Just kidding! You can't expect Machlassie to end her story with no romance! Oh no, there's much more left to be written. Although, I guess if you think about it in the literal sense, this can be the actual ending and the next chapter is the Epilogue…Whatever way you want to put it, thank you for reading!