Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 117: Doomsday

 

It was the dead of night when Tiffany hastily gathered her things and shoved them into a suitcase, checking her phone every few minutes to count down the seconds until doomsday. The plan she made with Portia several weeks ago would finally be in motion any moment now, and by the time it was all over, she wanted to be long gone. 

The house had been quiet for hours, allowing the faint sound of approaching footsteps to catch her attention easily. Cramming the last of her things into the suitcase, and her phone and keys into her pockets, she swore under her breath as the doorknob rattled. "Tiffany?"

She debated if she should just go; hurl herself out of her bedroom window and not even bother looking back. But there she stood, unmoving, frozen in place as the door swung open and she was face to face with the last person she wanted to see tonight. 

"The hell are you doing in here?" Damon stepped into the room, his tired eyes trying to process the scene in front of him.

"Nothing," she said calmly, taking a step back from her suitcase to face him. 

"Doesn't look like nothing to me. What are you packing for? You planning to take me on a honeymoon?" His voice was laced with bitter sarcasm. 

"It's not what it looks like."

"It looks like you're leaving."

Tiffany crossed her arms with a heavy sigh, unable to bring herself to meet his gaze. "Yeah, Damon. I'm leaving. Now that we've cleared that up, do you mind leaving me the hell alone?"

"I don't understand," he muttered, taking a step toward her. 

"There's nothing to understand," she said.

He looked away. "Obviously, there's something. We don't have to go through -- all of this. I can fix it if you just tell me what I did to piss you off."

"Nothing."

"I'm not stupid!" Damon snapped, his patience wearing thin. "Just cut the bullsh--"

"Maybe the reason I'm not telling you is because I don't want you to know!" Tiffany interrupted. "Maybe you don't want to know. If you knew what was good for you, then you'd turn around and walk back out the door."

"Give me a reason to."

"Fine," she relented, approaching him as she spoke. "I made a deal with President Boucher."

"...what?"

"I turned her into a vampire. She's going to the Magic Realm with a vampire army to kill the Sages. Any moment now, everyone's Glimmerstones will start glowing, summoning them to their deaths. The Realm's going to self destruct once their magic is no longer supporting its existence. And I... will be waiting for her return once she's accomplished our goal."

Stunned, Damon opened his mouth to speak, straining desperately for words to come. "B-But... why... would you...?"

"Do you really have to ask me that?" Tiffany grinned. "You should know better than anyone. This way, I can finally put an end to Orion. To everyone who's ever wronged me. But aside from that, it's really a mercy to eradicate them all, isn't it? To end the misery of so many Supernaturals' existence?"

"Tiffany, I'm one of "them!" So are you!"

"I won't be for long. As long as I take the cure, I'm granted immunity."

"...what about me?" He already knew the answer, and the pain in his eyes made it obvious. "You... you were going to just... leave me to die?"

"Damon," she said softly, a gentle caress of his cheek contrasting harshly with her cold, unfeeling gaze, "monsters like you... have no place in the world."

His heart was pounding. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think; he could only feel. His veins were more full of anger than blood, his eyes brimmed with tears he didn't know he still had, his chest tightened with an agony he hadn't felt in years. "I loved you," he rasped, "I thought I wasn't capable of love for so long, until I met you, until I loved you, and I thought that maybe-- maybe in some screwed-up way, you felt the same! I needed you to feel the same! I needed someone to care, I thought... I thought..."

Her empty smile chilled him to his core. "You thought wrong. I never loved you, Damon. And no one ever will."

Of all the terrible things she'd ever told him, the truth was what Damon couldn't bear. His mind was a gray sky clouding over before the rain, helpless to stop the storm building inside of it. Like a sixth sense, he could feel it coming over him; a familiar darkness that had consumed him so many times no matter how hard he willed it away or how many years he'd spent pleading with a nonexistent higher power for a light strong enough to dispel it. It hurt. It ripped his mind to shreds, it split his lost soul in two; he came apart at the seams, screaming in the deafening silence of his inescapable abyss as the beast clawed its way to the surface once again. His vision darkened at the edges, the racing of his blood pounded in his eardrums. 

And then there was nothing left but rage.

"D-Damon," her voice spoke as she backed away, but he didn't recognize it anymore. "S-Stay back! Don't come any closer!"

Piercing red eyes met hers, a guttural growl erupting from his jaws. 

It wasn't Damon. 

It was Damon.

It had an unquenchable thirst that not even every last drop of her blood could satisfy.

---

The plan was in motion.

Tiffany was right. Taking control of the Realm of Magic was nearly effortless; despite all the power the sages held, it was no match for the power that Portia inherited and multiplied exponentially amongst her newly created vampire army. She had only two tasks left and she hadn't even broken a sweat. 

"Now," she began, her eyes nearly boring holes into her captives, "let's try this again, shall we? One of you is going to either tell me how these Glimmerstones work, or you're going to summon your kind to the realm for me. This is your last chance to cooperate willingly."

"Willingly?" Elphaba spat. "We would sooner die than help you."

"I'm glad you've accepted your impending death so quickly."

"Your inability to figure out how to operate the Glimmerstone is a result of your own lack of intelligence," Morgyn calmly said, glaring in her direction. "That is something we couldn't help you with even if we wanted to."

Portia glared back at them. "Make fun of me all you want. I'll figure it out myself, and you're going to stand there and watch me."

"Or we could destroy you," Elphaba suggested.

"There are three of you and hundreds of us. You know as well as I do that this is a battle you can't win. You might stand a chance, though, if only you used those stones of yours to send for help..."

The Sage simply pursed her lips, having no argument to refute her. 

"President Boucher?"

"Yes?" She briefly turned to the nearby source of the voice — one of her high-ranking officials, now standing in the doorway.

"The issue with the Glimmerstone is resolved. We've managed to send the signal."

"Excellent," she grinned, looking back at the Sages to continue. "It looks as though your feeble attempts to prevent my plans from succeeding have failed. That's very unfortunate... I extend my deepest condolences."

Morgyn's breath caught in their throat, a sense of dread overcoming them. They knew that there would be no saving themself, the other Sages, or even the Realm; they could only hold onto hope that the Supernaturals gathering here would fight for their right to existence regardless. 

---

Confusion: it was the only word that could describe the atmosphere at Magic HQ. The crowds were so thick that you could hardly move without stepping on someone else's toes, yet it was eerily silent save for the footsteps, everyone uttering in hushed whispers that echoed through the halls. Aurora must have seen a thousand faces in the few minutes it had been since she'd answered the glow of her Glimmerstone and teleported here, but none of them were the one she was looking for. Every moment that passed ate away at her nerves, made her walk a little faster through the seemingly endless building as she searched. In the sea of people, she'd somehow turned herself around and circled back to the entrance, but she was glad she did when she saw familiar faces near the front doors. "Amelia! Onyx!"

Her feet barely touched the ground on the way over to them, both looking just as confused as she was. "I'm so glad you're here..."

"What I'm trying to figure out is why we're here," Amelia said, turning to face her. "This is... really weird. I've never seen so many people at Magic HQ. Whatever's going on that made the Sages summon us, it must be bad... have you heard anything?"

"Nothing," Aurora replied. "Everyone's confused. I haven't even seen the Sages... or Alexander. I've been looking for him since I got here..."

"I'm sure he's okay," Onyx said. "If everyone's here, he's probably just lost in the crowd like the rest of us. But... maybe we should keep looking. See if we can find our families and friends."

"Yeah. Maybe he's with our kids," she reasoned, trying to reassure herself. "Or just lost, like you said, but that still doesn't explain why--" The ground rumbled beneath their feet, cutting her off with a sharp yelp. "W-What was that!?"

Amelia tensed. "It felt like some sort of... quake!"

"In the Magic Realm!?"

It rumbled again, strong enough to rattle the whole building and send people stumbling for balance.

"I-I don't like this," Onyx said quietly, glancing around at the increasingly panicked crowd. "Something's not right."

"Denizens of the Realm of Magic!" 

The thundering voice from the entryway brought dead silence in its wake. "I'm sure you're all wondering why the Sages summoned you here," Portia said, her heels clicking against the floor as she took slow, leisurely steps into the building. "I regret to inform you that it was not them who requested your presence, but I. You see, I have important news..."

The rumbling started again, even stronger than the last time. 

"...your beloved Sages are dead..."

The louder footsteps of her minions joined her own, flooding into the building with their fangs bared.

"...and now, so are you."

Everything happened too fast. Her vampiric minions emerged from every direction, easily annihilating everyone that stood in their way, the bloodshed already pooling at their feet before anyone had a chance to run. But there was nowhere to run, nowhere safe, not with assassins around every corner and Portia herself blocking the way out. 

"W-We have to get out of here," Aurora said. "Now!"

Amelia shook her head. "We can't leave our families here! Or our friends, or...!"

"Amelia," Onyx said gently, "if we don't leave now, we won't be leaving."

"I-I know," she said quietly, "but I... I can't leave without Alexander. Please. We'll find him and then we'll go. We have to find another way out anyway..."

"To find another way out, we have to get through her army!"

"To take the usual way out, we have to get through her."

"There's a back exit," Onyx said hurriedly. "We'll go that way and look for Alexander. If he isn't somewhere along the way, I'll stay behind to find him, and you two--"

"No! We stay together," Amelia interrupted. 

"Together," Aurora agreed. "We'll find him, let's just get moving!" 

Time was a blur to Amelia as they weaved through the crowd, stumbling over lifeless bodies every now and then; most of them people she didn't recognize and some of them people she did. There was no time to process any of it, and even if there had been, she could only think of one thing: finding Alexander and getting them all out of here alive. By the time she realized she could no longer see the deep purple of Aurora's skin or the piercing red of Onyx's eyes among the crowd, there was no telling how far behind she'd fallen, or if they'd even noticed she had in their own struggle to escape. She opened her mouth to call out when a heavy weight plowed right into her, sending her falling to the ground. She desperately wrestled for control over the offending vampire, both of their fangs bared and her assailant's fingers squeezing her throat. She kicked hard, and it was enough to free herself and stumble quickly to her feet, but it left her no time to recover before two more were ganging up and lunging at her, knowing she was helpless to evade--

"Putrefy!"

The next impact never came. The vampires reeled back at the voice's spellcast, wailing as their flesh melted from their bones, leaving behind nothing but dust. Horrified, Amelia turned in the direction the spell came from, her eyes meeting the gaze of familiar green ones. He gazed at her over his shoulder, his hands outstretched to the next horde of vampires that were approaching, prepared to attack them in the same way; but she knew there was only so much a wizard could do before the risk of overcharge was too great, and judging by the looks of him, he'd been spell-slinging a great deal already. 

"Macha," she said, "you have to get out of here. You're going to overcharge if--"

"Go," he interrupted.

"But--"

"I have already foreseen how this ends for me," he said softly. "But I have also seen that your destiny does not end here, Amelia Nightshade. Today is not the day the fates cut your thread. So go."

There was a moment's hesitation, but she nodded, already backing away from the scene. "Thank you," she said remorsefully, "for everything."

---

The pain was unlike anything Tiffany had ever experienced, mind-numbing, setting the nerves in her neck on fire as he embedded his fangs to the hilt inside of it. The more she struggled against him, the harder his jaws clamped down; like a ravenous animal subduing its prey. There was no escaping, not by fighting. Tears running down her cheeks, she resorted to the only thing left to do. "D-Damon, please," she strained, every effort to speak aching deep in the muscles of her throat, "I-I... I didn't mean what I... said... I'm... sorry...!"

Damon only snarled, still lapping at the blood oozing out of her jugular.

Lightheadedness set in, and she couldn't remember the last time she had been truly, genuinely afraid. But she had never felt fear like this, complete and utter helplessness, and for a moment, her mind wandered to Orion. Was this how she'd made him feel for so many years? Was it how he must have been feeling now, the Realm collapsing and consuming everything he loved with it, and then himself? 

She hoped so.

Her weakened knees buckled and his arms wrapped around her, supporting her on her feet in what she almost could have believed to be an embrace, had the circumstances been different. "You don't want to do this," she murmured, the world around her starting to grow dark. "You love me... remember...?"

His fangs ripped out of her and she screamed as they both fell to the floor, his weight pinning her down against it -- not that she had the strength to get up even if it hadn't been. He watched, emotionless, as she coughed and gurgled beneath him, her teary eyes weakly looking up into his. 

He didn't remember.

"H-How... could... you...?" 

Tiffany was choking on the blood pooling in her throat now, taking silent gasps for air in vain. 

"...f-f..."

The light in her eyes was dimming.

"...hhhck... you..."

Silence.

Her eyes were fixed on his, but they were no longer looking. Slowly, reality sank in as he pulled himself up off the floor, her blood still dripping from his lips. 

A trembling hand gripped his head as the overwhelming sense of déjà vu flooded his mind with the first rational thought he'd had since entering dark form. His chest heaved with panic at the memories that rushed back to him. He remembered now, but not Tiffany -- he remembered the desperate pleas of someone else, the innocent blue eyes that contrasted so harshly with her guilty ones, the sweetness of the blood on his tongue rather than the bitter taste that lingered in his mouth now. Collapsing to his knees, Damon felt sick, but the monster he'd set free from its cage was heartlessly numb. It didn't know remorse. It didn't know love. It lived only to consume and destroy everything both everything he loved and everything he hated.

But more than anything, he hated himself.

For years, he'd let the monster take hold, never knowing how to stop it. But now he knew.

The only way to purify a demon was to exorcise it.

The only way to tame a dragon was to slay it. 

The only way to put a sick dog out of its misery was to put it down.

His hands dug through his pocket, locating the lighter and handful of cigarettes he usually kept stashed on him. He lit one and took one puff, two puffs, breathing deeply and watching the smoke blow out of his mouth as he reached into his other pocket, this time retrieving a small flask. He couldn't bring himself to watch as he poured the whiskey out onto the floor. He lit the lighter once more, lowering it to the puddle and flinching as it went up in smoke, the flames licking against his arm, but he didn't make an effort to escape. He could only gaze down at Tiffany's lifeless body as the fire rapidly spread all around them, a genuine smile tugging at his lips for the first time in what must have been forever. "...see you in hell."

---

Amelia ran as fast as her feet could carry her, rounding the corner to the next room -- the potion brewery -- where she collided with someone, panicking momentarily until the realization hit her that it was Onyx. His trembling arms were around her immediately, his voice shaking as he spoke. "I-I'm so sorry, you were there one second and gone the next, and we've been trying to find you, b-but--"

"It's okay, I'm okay," she said, but it couldn't be further from the truth. "Where's Aurora?"

"Here," Aurora said, rushing over to her. "But we're almost to the exit, and we still haven't found..."

"Amelia!"

She whirled around the second she heard the familiar voice, tears of relief welling in her eyes. "Alexander!?"

"I looked everywhere for you," Alexander said, holding his arms out to her as she raced over to hug him. "A-Are you guys okay?"

She stepped back, not really wanting to let go despite knowing that had no time for happy reunions. "Yeah," she sighed, glancing behind him. "You found Orion and Skylar?"

"More like they found me," he said. 

"And... you didn't find anyone else? The kids, or...?"

"...not... alive, I didn't, no."

Her chest tightened, but she did her best to keep her emotions under control; now was not the time to lose her head. 

"I'm glad you're all okay," Skylar spoke up. 

Onyx frowned. "Same to you."

"D-Do you have... any idea what's going on?" Orion asked anxiously, glancing around to make sure no one was going to come charging at them through the crowd. "Why we're here? And why there are a bunch of vampires... killing people?"

"It's the President," Amelia explained. "She killed the Sages and brought a vampire army with her to finish off the rest of us. The Realm of Magic is going to collapse."

"W-What!?"

Alexander tensed. "Hey, uh, as much as I'd love to stay and talk about this, I think that's enough information for now, you can fill us in more once we're out of here!"

"Good idea!" Aurora added. "Let's just go, we're taking the back exit, so we're almost--"

Another quake interrupted them, but this time, it didn't stop. The entire realm was crumbling, both the ground below their feet and the ceiling above them slowly cracking open. The second floor began to collapse, blocking the way to the back exit.

Orion stared up at what remained of the ceiling, every fiber of his body screaming at him to run. "W-We have to go. Now."

"But the exit's blocked!" Aurora exclaimed. 

"T-Then we go back the way you came!"

"That's just as much of a death sentence as staying here will be!"

"S-So the options are... die or die? I don't want to die!"

"We don't have time to argue about this!" Alexander snapped. "We're going the only way we can go, and no one's going to die like this!"

He was right, there was no time to argue. They had no choice but to go in the opposite direction and hope that weaving around all the rubble and bodies and murderous vampires wouldn't slow them down too much to make it out before it was too late. It felt too good to be true when the door was in sight, a clear pathway through the front room now carved out to it, the portal that would allow them to escape and survive standing just outside.

"We're almost there!" He glanced over his shoulder at the part of the group trailing behind him. "We're gonna--"

CRACK.

The moment went by so fast that he hardly knew what happened. One moment, he was running, the next, he was tumbling to the floor, Aurora was falling down behind him -- had she shoved him? he couldn't tell -- and then there was screaming, an ear-ringing cacophony he failed to single out the source of, then... silence. 

"...guys?" He pushed himself up onto his elbows, the world refocusing enough for him to see Onyx and Amelia still standing ahead, staring at whatever was behind him in pure horror--

Aurora.

Alexander shot up to his feet, ignoring the soreness as he followed their gazes to the new pile of ruin that had once been most of the entrance's ceiling. His heart dropped.

The pain hadn't yet registered in Aurora's mind as she pushed herself up off the ground, not until she struggled to free her leg only to find that it was crushed beneath the rubble. With a sharp cry, she tugged, only to get nowhere. "A-Alexander--!"

He was at her side in an instant, doing his best to ignore Skylar's mostly-buried body and Orion's limp, outstretched hand laying next to Aurora's. It was hard to peel his eyes away from it, though, when he swore he saw the fingers twitch and bile rose in his throat as he was forced to wonder if those were the dead person kind of twitches or the living person kind of twitches. 

"A-Alexander, I... I can't..."

His mind was quickly snapped back to the bigger concern at hand. Kneeling by her, his eyes darted from hers to her stuck leg, and he could only imagine that every bone underneath the rubble was shattered beyond repair. "I know," he said softly, one of his hands coming up to rub her back. "W-We'll get you out of here, I promise, just hold on--"

Aurora grimaced. "T-There's... no time."

"Aurora--"

"If you don't leave now, we're all going to die," she continued, pieces of the building still crumbling to the floor all around them. "It's okay, baby. Just go."

He broke down, breaths coming out in raw sobs. "I-I can't leave you! I can't lose someone I love so much again, I can't..."

"Alexander," Amelia called from behind him, "she's right, we have to go! Please!"

Trembling hands cupped her cheeks, wiping the tears that ran down them as their gazes met. "...I love you so much, Aurora."

"I know." She placed a hand over his, forcing a smile through the pain. "I love you, too."

Forcing himself to turn away from her and run was the hardest thing he'd ever done. No sooner than the three had made it to the doors, the rest of Magic HQ began to cave in. He shouldn't have let himself stop and watch helplessly as she, too, disappeared beneath the ruins, silently wishing it had been him instead.

"Alexander, come on!"

Amelia's voice finally tore his eyes away from the scene behind them. They were close to the portal, now; the only thing that was left to do was get through it. The ground was splitting open all around them, bottomless chasms forming in what remained of the realm. 

Somehow, he found himself on the other side of one. 

"H-Hurry, before-- before it gets any worse!" 

As though the universe itself was taunting them, the ground shook, widening the chasm even more. 

He stepped back from the edge that was now dangerously close to his feet. "I-I can't--"

Amelia turned to face him, only inching closer to the opposite edge. "Use your bat form!"

"I'm trying! I can't!"

"What do you mean you can't!?"

"The Sages dying, the Realm itself dying-- i-it's causing something screwy with our powers here, I think," he said far too calmly, staring down into the endlessness below for a few moments before looking back up at her. "Amelia, listen to me."

"No," she said quietly. "No, I'm not going to..."

"You have to go."

"I won't leave you!"

"You have to!"

The whole world was falling apart both around them and within them.

"Amelia," Onyx said gently, approaching from where he stood in front of the portal and taking hold of her hand. "I'm sorry, come on..."

"No!"

His other hand grabbed her arm, pulling her back by force. "I can't let you die!"

She struggled against Onyx's grasp, her eyes not leaving Alexander's for a single moment. As she felt the ground begin to crumble beneath her feet, she reached her other arm out, hand extended as far as it would go. "Jump!"

"I won't make it!"

"I won't let you fall!"

With the last spark of courage he had left in him, he took a leap of faith. For one hopeful moment, his fingers connected with hers...

...only to slip right through them as she disappeared into the portal.