Moscow, June 1945
For now, Dmitry, Vadim, and Darya could say nothing but sip the hot tea that had just been served, when Vadim visited Dmitry’s new settlement. The sound of Elena sobbing and her mother consoling her in the other room was the only noise filling the apartment, deepening the gloom that weighed on each of them. Vadim rubbed his watery eyes and looked at Dmitry, who was sitting directly across from him.
"Thank you for finding some of Vasya's old clothes inside the rubbles, Vadik. Lenka was so grateful to find more of his memory," thanked Dmitry.
"If there is anyone deserved to keep his memory better than me, it's his wife..." then Vadim turning his gaze to Darya in curiosity. “So... this military cook from Belarus... she’s the girl you and Lyosha were vying for?”
Dmitry lowered his head in embarrassment, then gave a firm nod. Vadim asked again quietly, “Huh... so is it love triangle case?”
Darya quickly waved her hand, “Not really. I had fallen for Dima first at Stalingrad before I was sent to Poltava orphanage. Lyosha is a lost cause...”
“The Poltava orphanage...” Vadim murmured with puzzled look, "But did you love Lyosha too? Sorry... I mean... how? I thought there are a lot of orphanage in Stalingrad?"
"To be truth, I was kicked out of more than four orphanages in Stalingrad, because I kept making troubles. Fighting any boys who try to touch me, and I got framed as seducer. Finally, I was placed in an orphanage in Poltava. It's the same one where Lyosha was being raised. And from all boys, only Lyosha who protect me without hidden motives."
"I see..." Dmitry nodded in sympathy.
“It's also true... I once also fell in love with Lyosha. Back then, my memory of your face had grown hazy and I gave up my imagination. So I thought I should move on,” Darya gazed wistfully at Dmitry. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before speaking again. "Even though... I had issues with his sister who hated me. And there are several times Lyosha believed his sister more. I brushed it off, as long as there are more time that he would sit beside me. Until... well, suddenly I just see Lyosha packed his things with his sister. She also made a final slander that I was hindering Lyosha's growth by seducing him. While I was punished, he just... leave for scholarship without regret."
"Wow... what a bitch she was..." cursed Vadim in his grumble. "And I remembered Lyosha keep boasting her as the kindest sister he ever had..."
“I had lost all hope. Maybe even letting myself died from the caretaker's torture... Fortunately, Red Army officers from Belarus came during sudden inspection. A military chef kindly took me in as a foster daughter; he taught me how to cook and even showed me a few martial arts moves using a broom. That’s where I managed to rebuild my self-confidence, though I still couldn't bring myself to trust men again... not until Dima came to my life again. The ensemble's visit to Belarus military base is a bless for me.”
Both Dmitry and Vadim sighed heavily, still hardly able to believe the extent of the mental torment Alexei and Anna had inflicted on Darya.
“Then why didn't you tell the truth while we exchange correspondences? You knew from the very beginning that he was my friend. I could have confronted Lyosha to take responsibility at the base,” crooned Dmitry.
“I already confront him too. The next day after you exchanged address, he secretly approached me and try to make up every mistakes he did. Then... he doesn't accept my rejection. Even actually he threaten to remove everyone I loved. I had to hid your name, so he won't lashed out on you,” Darya replied simply. Dmitry was left speechless, realizing the truth in her words.
"...Wait, is it the true Lyosha who you met with?" asked Dmitry again in monotone voice. Vadim's eyes slightly widened, but Darya's head shook lowly.
"I don't know if you will believe me... but I always think Lyosha actually has another dark side living inside him..."
"Vitaly. That's his name. I met him when he tried to kill me at border of Germany," Dmitry admitted.
Vadim urgently heaved, "What? How come? I thought Lyosha was stationed in Southwestern Front with Vasya? While you were going to Western Front?"
"About that..."
***
(Dmitry proceed to tell what he experienced. Same like in Sacrifice fragment)
***
"...That's too awful... I wish I could have bleeding ears right now," Vadim chided in low voice. "I still can't believe he killed Vasya?!"
“I don't know if Lyosha's condition for having a dark side named Vitaly... can be explained medically or otherwise,” Darya mused as she rubbed Dmitry's back, calming that man who quietly sobbing again.
Vadim then signalled, “Vasya once mentioned he’d encountered a similar case from his construction worker buddies. He even re-visited Kharovsk to get more information. I think... it was a case involving a man. The man kill his own family and then blaming the mirror. Upon investigation, it turned out the man simply couldn't bear having a violent killer living inside his body. And that killer controlling his actions.”
“And then?” Dmitry asked after he finally gathered his breath again.
“That was all he said. He just later sent me the wedding invitation card and train ticket to Kalinin. Later during wedding party, he made me swore to keep his trip to Kharovsk in secret, because he wished it was just his paranoia and not a true hunch,” Vadim said bluntly.
“And I guess what was Vitaly hinted that Vasya pestered him means...” Dmitry leered.
"Yeah. Vasya must knew something deeper after that. Maybe even know how to tame Vitaly?” pondered Darya.
"...Must be. Ugh, I wish he could survive and tell us more... " sighed Vadim... until suddenly Vadim commented with grumble, "Anyway, Dima, I wager Lyosha's fiancée doesn't know this..."
"No, I don't think we should tell her the truth," refused Dmitry. Vadim nodded in agreement.
"I know. I mean, I will try to visit his fiancée in Leningrad. I still remembered the address as she lives near the biggest factory there. Well, if she is still alive."
"And what story you will tell her?"
Vadim putting his hand on his chin, then he concluded, "Getting hit by bomb and the body cannot be found. Simple. She will buys it. Better than hearing his beloved letting Germans shoot him because a bastard living inside his head..."
Dmitry then sighed and waved his hand. "Yeah, thanks for volunteering, Vadik. I owe you... Because I don't think I can't keep the truth from slipping through my tongue..."
"Then... I know it's out of topic, Darya. But... well, if you want some good entertainment; Alexei's bitchy sister got killed in 1938.... It's during April," snorted Vadim as he turned his blue eyes to Darya.
Darya tilted her head in interest. "Really?"
Dmitry could see Darya's snort and almost want to laugh. Then Dmitry answered fast with wry smile, even though his eyes still swollen, "It's okay to laugh. I also regret to ever sympathising her death to Lyosha, after you told me everything."
And at the end, Darya covered her eyes, both giggling and also crying alone. So, she was the last one who had same swollen and watery eyes like everyone else.
But then Dmitry, Vadim and Darya gasped when seeing Elena walked out of the bedroom and listlessly announced, "I heard everything. So... my husband was not died by enemies."
She didn't look at anyone. She just stood there, pale and still. Dmitry started to fret, "Le-Lenka! We didn't mean to lie to you. We just... need to connect everything! I planned to tell you after-"
But Elena raised her hand, and Dmitry stopped. Then Elena seriously asked, "Just tell me one thing: Are you sure my husband's killer truly committing suicide?"
Nodding head firmly was Dmitry's reaction, "Truly let himself shot by Germans. Bullet on forehead, and he was already cold stiff by the battle ended."
Then Elena inhaled and exhaled deeply. "Bullet on forehead.... good. No chance to survive."
Vadim then gloomily leaned his head to the chair, "Yet we still don't know how Vasya died..."
"No need to. All that matters for me... our beloved Vasya's death has avenged. And so, I can focus raising Petka and telling him, that his father still died as a hero without doubt."
"Lenka..." muttered Dmitry.
Elena patting Dmitry's shoulder with small smile and claimed, "It's true. Our Vasya still a hero. He died after hindering the killer to kill you."
"...I'm sorry to not telling you so soon..."
"I understand. So, I still thank you to stayed alive and tell us everything, Dimochka. I already lost him. Your girlfriend and friend had been troubled by the killer's existence. We cannot lose more beloved ones too..."
The cups of tea may gone colder during that moment. But at least, the watery eyes of the living Soviets in that apartment were not an useless grief anymore.