#3170 WORDS HOLY MOLY

[obsidiancreates]

You May Not Like What You See

(Okay so Celine in the Vampire AU can’t actually see into the future so this fic isn’t canon but I just- I got an idea and I had to write it because it was such a good idea it made my hands shaky coming up with it and like... you don’t ignore shaky hands ideas.)

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“Are you sure about this?” asks her assistant as Celine sets up the table. “Peering into the future... that’s a magic none of us have delved into. All the books, all your old teachers-”

“I have to!” Celine snaps. “I... I have to.” Her voice goes soft, and she pauses in setting up the table. “Damien... something’s been wrong. Something more than just being turned. I’ve tried looking into the past, but everything that happened inside of that manor is... shrouded, by another power. So I’m looking to the future, to see if maybe that can help figure out what’s wrong.”

Her assistant watches, wringing her hands. “But it’s so easy to get lost! What if you peer too far? What if you see too much? It can drive you mad!”

“I’ll risk it! I’d risk anything for my brother! I’m just going to look a little ways, a few months or so, see if it gets any worse, or if it gets fixed. I just want some reassurance that he’ll be okay.”

“And if he isn’t?”

Celine sets her jaw. “Then I can try to change things. The future isn’t set in stone.”

Her assistant gulps as Celine finishes, sitting down at the table. “Do you want me to leave?”

Celine thinks. “No. No, I’d like you to stay.” She hesitates. “Please.”

Her assistant nods, sitting down on the other side of the table. “Good luck, Celine.”

“Thank you.” She looks into the crystal ball and focuses, clearing her mind, channeling her magic to show her what might come to be...

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She blinks, the sun shining into her eyes, a stark contrast to the dimly-lit room she’d been in moments ago.

It worked!

The world around her is fuzzy at the edges of her vision, slightly blurred, but she can still see well enough.

She stands by the cabin where Damien is staying until they found the cure. It seems to be springtime.

Perfect. It was winter, back in the present. A few months ahead, just as she’d hoped.

She allows herself a small sigh of relief. Seer magic is... temperamental, to say the least. It could go awry easily, killing your control and sweeping you away.

She walks into the cabin, going right through the closed door. She isn’t truly there, after all, and this isn’t yet reality.

She enters the cabin and finds Damien, sitting across from the door. Staring at it.

She looks around the room. She, or, her future self, is no-where to be seen.

Drat. She must have landed on a day where she wasn’t visiting. Well, it’s still close enough. I’ll just watch him. See how he acts.

She walks closer to her brother. He runs a hand through his hair and shuts his eyes.

“Can’t go out. Can’t go out,” he mutters to himself. “Can’t go find them. Not yet.”

Celine frowns, concerned.

Damien squeezes his eye shut tighter, putting both hands to his head. “Just... don’t think about it,” he says, his voice slightly strained. “Don’t think about it...”

About... what? Is he hungry? Maybe I need to start bringing him more blood. Celine shudders at the thought. 

The door opens, and Damien’s head snaps up.

The future Celine walks in, and present Celine gasps.

She’s old.

Well, not old-old. But old enough that Celine realizes that she’s gone much, much further into the future than she meant to.

Her hair is littered with streaks of gray. Her hands are worn for years of magic usage. When she smiles at Damien, the corners of her eyes crinkle much more than Celine’s do in the present.

And... Damien is still a vampire. 

Will it... really take so long to cure him?

“Hi Dames,” future Celine greets. “Are you doing okay?”

Damien has his hands clasped together in his lap, squeezing so hard that his too-long nails almost pierce the skin. “Fine,” he says, trying to smile back.

Future Celine’s smile fades. “No, you’re not.”

Damien sighs. “It’s just... getting more difficult. The nagging is...”

“Getting worse?”

Damien nods. “It’s hard to ignore.”

Future Celine goes to sit beside her brother. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’ve been working tirelessly for years. I’m the one who should apologize.”

“We’ve been over this-”

“I should have listened to you. Stayed away from Mark. It’s my fault you’re wasting your life like this.”

“Hey!” Future Celine pushes him playfully. “It’s not a waste! I’m proud of the work we’ve done! And it could end up helping hundreds of other people, too! Besides, I was doing this before you were turned, anyway.”

They go quiet for a moment.

“Where’s William?” she finally asks.

“Sleeping,” Damien says. “I’m worried about him. I think the ends of his mustache are... well, I think they’ve started to turn pink.”

Both Celines wrinkle their brows. “Pink?” they say in unison.

“That’s... not a normal side effect of being turned,” Future Celine mumbles to herself, thinking.

“I have a feeling it’s less to do with that, and more to do with that... thing in The Manor.”

Present Celine watches Damien’s hands.

He’s squeezing in pulses, like a heartbeat. His nails break the skin, and it heals over. Then again. Then again.

He doesn’t seem to notice.

Okay... okay. I can fix this. We’ll just find more people to help with our research. Speed things up by a few years. Celine looks away, feeling sick. It’s not going to take this long. I... I can’t let him be like this for this long.

She tries to focus on going back to her body, sitting at the table in the dimly lit room, but her worries are swirling in her head. How long will it take? Will he be stuck in this cabin, isolated, for decades? What did he mean by “nagging”? Did he mean his hunger? Or something else?

She tries to calm down the torrent of questions. Tires to maintain her focus. Her control.

But then one thought comes in.

What if we don’t find a cure?

Her control is killed.

She gasps as the storm of doubts seems to create a physical storm around her, the scene of the cabin being blown away by raging winds that whisper her own thoughts back to her. 

What if we don’t find a cure? What if we don’t find a cure? What if we don’t find a cure?

It’s like a tornado, pulling scenes of the possible futures in and bombarding her with them. It’s too much to comprehend all at once, conversations overlapping as the winds pull at her, trying to drag her into these memories of what hasn’t yet happened.

He tries to focus again, but she’s losing her ground, the winds howling as the noise of the future gets louder and louder-

She stumbles.

She is swept away.

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When she opens her eyes again, she’s still not back in the room. She has no idea where she is, in fact.

She’s standing on a street, somewhere she doesn’t recognize. It’s night, and there’s no people to be seen. 

She looks at the buildings around her. She squints, trying to make out the signs.

Star... bucks? What the hell is that?

When am I?

She looks around. 

And where is Damien?

She’s meant to be looking into his future, so the lack of Damien is somewhat confusing.

She strains, trying to focus on getting home.

And then she hears voices.

She turns to look behind her. There’s two figures, walking side by side, chatting.

“Wow. Sounds like you’ve got a big family,” says one of the figures, who becomes clearing as they get closer. 

It’s a man, maybe late twenties, wearing what seems to be a doctor’s uniform. He’s holding a takeout box lazily in his grip, and he’s stumbling a little as he walks. There are dark circles and bags under his eyes, and he holds his hand up to his mouth to stifle a yawn.

“Yes, but honestly, I prefer it that way. A good thing, too, because we’re expecting another member to move in soon.” 

The second figure is a man in a suit. He has his hands folded behind his back, and he walks with elegance and confidence. His eyes are bright, awake, and...

And there’s something familiar about him.

“Really? Yikes.”

“No, no, it’s quite welcome. The more, merrier, in my opinion.”

“Hmm. You’re a more optimistic man than me, Dark.”

Dark? The man in the suit’s name is Dark? 

“Anyway, thanks for reminding me to get dinner after my shift. I probably would’ve forgotten if you hadn’t.”

“My pleasure. I’m in charge of making sure everyone is fed at home, so it’s become a bit of an instinct.”

“You are? Wow. That must be a handful.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” Dark grins, but there’s something malicious to it. The doctor doesn’t seem to notice.

Celine peers closer at Dark. Why does he look so...

Her hands fly up to her mouth and she stumbles back.

Damien. It’s Damien.

Except... it isn’t.

All of the friendliness, the inviting warmth that her brother has always had, is gone. His eyes have a cold glint to them, almost predatory. His smile doesn’t reach his eyes, making it look almost like he’s baring his teeth. His fangs and eyes are disguised, but she can tell he’s still not been cured. His skin is snow-white, and his eyes keep drifting down to the doctor’s neck, clear hunger behind them.

And there’s an... an aura.

Not the kind that everyone is born with naturally. She’s met only one or two vampires in her time searching for a cure with this type of aura. It’s an aura of power, signifying some kind of... supernatural ability. 

Damien doesn’t have one in the present. He didn’t have one in the last scene, in the cabin.

She watches in horror, waiting for the inevitable attack.

But it doesn’t come.

“Well, goodnight. See you later.”

Goodnight, Doc.” 

The two part ways, and Celine lowers her hands. What?

She watches the doctor walk farther away, then turn to an apartment building and go inside.

Damien- or, as he’s apparently known in this future, Dark- watches. And then he disappears.

Celine has no time to question where he’s gone before she’s pulled into a different setting.

She’s standing in a small bedroom, the doctor from before asleep in front of her. He’s laying on his side, in the deep sleep of one who’s been in desperate need of rest and unfortunately won’t get nearly enough before having to wake again.

And Dark is standing by the bed, silently looking over the bookcase next to it.

What in the world is he doing?! 

Celine stands still, watching in shock as her brother- her sweet, pure, almost angelic brother- rifles through a sleeping man’s possessions, his presence clearly unknown to the doctor.

Dark picks up a book and read the synopsis. Then he picks up a small trinket and looks it over, as though examining it. He puts it back, and then grabs another book. He flips it open, and a bookmark falls out.

He picks it up, examines it, and puts it in his pocket.

Is he... stealing? Stealing a bookmark, of all things?

He goes over to the closet. It’s wide open, the clothes mostly heaped on the ground, with a few shirts on hangers. Dark picks one up and checks the size.

What the fuck is he doing?

He moves back over to the bookcase and, after careful consideration, grabs a trinket off of it. He puts that in his pocket as well.

Then he looks down at the doctor.

His eyes linger in the man’s neck. Celine stares at him, silently begging him not to bite him.

He doesn’t.

Instead he brushes his fingers over the sleeping man’s neck, hunger glinting his bright red eyes, along with something else. Anticipation? For what?

Dark pulls his hand away. The setting changes again.

Celine is standing in an entryway to a house. The door is just closing, Dark standing in front of it. Someone, another man in a suit (though this man’s is black, whereas Dark’s is a dark gray), comes up to him. He’s also a vampire, his red eyes and sharp fangs on proud display.

“Still not time?”

“No, not yet.”

“Well, I’m excited for when it is! Been a while since we’ve had any-” the other man pauses to laugh, “-new blood around here.”

Dark looks at the other man, un-amused. The other man’s grin turns into an embarrassed frown. 

“Heh. Sorry. Bing laughed at it earlier, so I thought I’d try it again.”

Dark still doesn’t react. “If you’ll excuse me now, Bim?”

“Oh, right, right.” Bim steps out of the way, and Dark strides out of the room.

Celine follows, though not quite bu her own will. She doesn’t walk, but instead is just... pulled along, trailing after Dark.

How could this possibly be her brother? How could this possibly be Damien, in any future?

He opens the door to a bedroom.

It’s bigger than the one in the doctor’s apartment. It’s a bit bland, with little decoration besides a bed, a chair, a desk, and a bookcase.

There’s only two books on the case. Dark grabs one, opens it, and puts the stolen bookmark inside. Then he places the stolen trinket on it, the same shelf as it was on in the doctor’s room.

What is...

“...we’re expecting another member to move in soon.”

“...new blood...”

No. No, that can’t be it.

Damien had told her about how Mark had gone on about wanting them all to be together, after the actor had turned him. How he’d wanted them to all live in the manor, like a... 

Family.

But... why would Damien be doing the same? He’d detested the idea. He was determined to be cured, and this all seemed as though he’d embraced his curse.

What had lead to this?

And then she had a sickening realization.

Damien had left the cabin. He still wasn’t cured. And she seemed to be many, many years into the future.

And she hadn’t seen herself anywhere yet.

Date. I need to find something with a date on it.

She left the room, leaving Dark behind as well.

She searched for a room with a newspaper, a calendar, anything! She came across bedroom after bedroom, some decorated and lived in, most bare and unused. The thought of why there were so many made her feel even more sick.

One was filled with boards with wheels on them, posters of bands she’d never heard of, technology that she didn’t recognize. 

One was filled with posters of the man who’d greeted Dark at the door, Bim. There were mirrors on all four walls, and the closet is filled with nice, pressed suits. There’s papers all over the desk, reading things like “New Segment Ideas” and “Hire My Ass Marketing Suggestions”.

One was filled with books, and bookshelves, and another vampire hiding amongst them who was murmuring to himself non-stop.

“The Seer realizes that The Host is speaking about her and she freezes. She looks over at him and sees that where his eyes should be, there’s a bandage, bloodied by his sockets. She leaves quickly, trying to convince herself that this is only one possible future, that her doubts simply took her to the worst one, that she can prevent it...”

One room is painted bright pink, with glitter absolutely everywhere. Suspenders of various patterns and colors are strewn about, along with many bow-ties. There’s knives on the floor, and guns on the desk and shelves.

And on the bed, splayed out and snoring, wearing only a hair of heart underwear and a yellow shirt with pink suspenders...

Oh god, William...

There’s a gun, his favorite one, gripped in one hand as he sleeps, and a teddy bear held in the other. His mustache is fully pink, comically curled, and his fangs poke out into view below it as his mouth hangs open, drooling slightly.

The years have been just as cruel and changing to him as they have to Damien, though clearly in a vastly different way.

There’s a poster on the wall, framed, that says “Warfstache Tonight!” with a picture of William below it. For some reason, it’s splattered with very, very old blood.

And in that room, she finds a calendar.

She can’t make out the last number of the year, but she can make out the first three. 201... something.

Her eyes go wide.

She’s ninety years into the future, at the very least. Nearly a century.

And Damien is still a vampire.

No. More than that. Now he’s some kind of... monster.

She collapses to her knees and shakes her head.

No. No, no, no! This can’t be the future! This can’t be what will happen to them!

She hears William yawn behind her. “Oh, hello Celine,” he mumbles sleepily. “Glad to see you’ve stopped playing dead finally. You should go say hi to Dark. He’s been very upset without you around.”

She hears him start to snore again seconds later.

She shuts her eyes, feeling a tear run down her cheek. I have to get back. I have to change this, I can’t let this happen!

She focuses all her willpower, all her magic, all her everything, into getting home.

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She’s pulled back to reality, to the present, to her own body, with a flash of searing pain in her skull and the breath being dragged out of her lungs. She bends over, coughing, and her assistant leaps out of her chair and rushes to her side. 

“What happened? Are you okay? You started twitching and whimpering, but I couldn’t wake you up by speaking and I was afraid of what would happen if I tried any other ways-”

Celine takes in a trembling breath. “I... I’m...”

She’s not fine. Not in the slightest.

“We need to get more people to help us. A lot more.”

Her assistant nods, realizing that now isn’t the time for questions. “Of course. I’ll go send some recruiters out right away.”

“Good, good, thank you.” Celine stands up. “I need to go see Damien, immediately. Let everyone know that I’ll be absent for a little while.”

“Of course.”

With that Celine leaves, hurrying to her car.

She drives as fast as she dares on the main roads, and then as fast as possible once out of civilization. When she arrives at the long path up to the cabin she hops out and sprints.

She reaches the cabin, panting, wheezing, and knocks on the door with more force than intended.

Damien opens it up and she launches herself at her twin, holding him in the tightest hug she can.

He hugs her back, careful not to squeeze too hard. “Celine? Are you okay? Did something happen?”

She doesn’t realize that she’s started crying into his shoulder until she hears herself begin to sob.