Work Text:
The lightly falling snow had just about ceased by the time Damien was thrusted back into the main world. He wasn't exactly Damien anymore, he understood that fully. He could feel the steady thrum of Celine and the DA's souls along with something else chilling in the back of his head... their head? He wasn't exactly sure what he was anymore. In the matter of a few short days his entire life had been thrown off-kilter. If he was his normal self he would have had a meltdown by now because of all of the change. To be honest, his current state of calm in the face of the chaos scared him a lot. He was used to his body being full of a flurry of emotions, some of which were comprehensible while the others just confused him. However all he felt now was emptiness. He knew there was a bit of hurt and longing that wanted to be felt, but it felt like his emotions were held under lock and key by his true objective; destroying Mark.
Mark ruined everything. Mark used to be his best friend, until he had betrayed Damien and Celine and everyone else in the manor. He had planned everything, and while it hadn't exactly panned out the way he expected, he was ok with the outcome. That's what Damien hated most about everything that had happened. Mark didn't see anything morally wrong with his plan. Mark was no longer the same person Damien had gone to college with, and Damien was sad it took him until his own death to realize that. Then top it all off, Mark had the audacity to take his body and parade around in it after he killed him and Celine. The idea of the man inside his real body made his skin crawl.
Damien sat up and looked at the new body he was in. The district attourney was so willing to let him inhabit their body, he almost felt bad about his plan to push them out of the body. The DA had done a lot for him over the years, they had even helped him cover up his past homosexual relationships from public eye. He didn't want them to have to experience his revenge against Mark. He shook it off and looked around for a brief moment before slowly rising to his feet. He turned to see the Colonel sitting on a divan, cradling the cane tht he had gifted to Damien when they were in college. Damien almost smiled at the memory.
It was a cold fall day and it had just happened to be Damien's 21st birthday. He had been looking forward to his birthday yet he couldn't get out of bed, due to the chill making it difficult to move. His legs worked fine on most days, but the sudden cold front that had arrived over night was causing his nerve damage to act up again. Most of his mobility problems that he'd had as a child had gone away as he got older, but he still tended to need a crutch every so often in case his legs unexpectedly gave out. Sadly, he had broken his crutch a few days prior and hadn't had the chance to get a new one. He didn't expect he'd need a new one so quickly because it was still very early autumn and the summer hadn't fully faded yet. He was wrong.
He groaned and flipped over in bed to face his lover. William was sat up and reading a book with his round glasses on. He looked up from his book at the movement and smiled at Damien. "Happy Birthday, my love. How are you feeling?" "I'm a little stiff, my legs aren't very happy about the sudden cold. You may have to carry me until they want to cooperate again" Damien joked. William laughed and started to stand up. "Stay here while I go retrieve something I got for you. It may just solve that problem." Damien rolled his eyes at the phrasing, "It's not like I can go anywhere like this anyways, Will." He hears a reply of "Oh shut it, you!" from the bedroom next door that his boyfriend had just entered.
William returned shortly with a long box that was closed with a crudely tied red bow. He helped Damien sit up and laid it in his lap. Damien untied the bow and wiggled the top off the box to reveal a sleek black cane with a beautiful ornate silver knob on one end. He examined the cane and tears sprung to his eyes as he saw the engraving on the top of the silver knob. It was in a lovely cursive font and read "To My Dearest Damien, My love for you is immesurable". He looked up at William with a wide smile and wrapped his arms around the man's waist, burying his face in his chest. "Thank you so much, Will. I love you too."
The engraving had long since faded away due to years of repeated rubbing his thumb over the words when he was nervous, but the cane still meant so much to him. Sadly, he wouldn't be able to carry it anymore. The Colonel saw the DA's body standing there, unaware that it was Damien inside, and stood up to greet them. Damien took a step backwards and the Colonel stopped moving, like one would with a frightened dog. "Oh no! No! Its ok!" He said to Damien. He relaxed his posture and continued to speak. "I-I thought you were dead. I mean- of course you're not dead! You're not- how could you be dead? I mean, I-I wouldn't have killed you. I-I didn't kill you!"
The Colonel set the cane down on a table and continued to ramble to himself. "I didn't kill anybody! I didn't- it was all a joke! Of course, it was all a joke!" He laughed a bit and looked at Damien, but he was speaking to the DA. "Were you in on this? Did Damien put you up to this? Of course he did!" The Colonel turned and started shouting into the house. "Damien, where are you, you rapscallion? Where are you? Celine? It's time to come out now!"
Damien's heart broke as he watched his friend and ex-lover descend into madness. William- The Colonel started searching the house for the twins as Damien stood there and said nothing. He wanted to cry, it hurt so bad to see the man broken down into pieces. But he had to focus on his task. He had to end Mark, before Mark could do anything else. Damien turned to the table next to him and grabbed onto his old cane. Using the strength from the entity inside him, he pushed out the soul of the DA and trapped them into the mirror above the table. They would be safer there.
He looked into the mirror to see that the body's appearance had changed to resemble his own body, with some slight alterations. His hair was no longer slicked back and a thin strip of khol lined the bottom lids of his eyes. Many parts of his usual suit had been removed, only the coat and button up shirt remaining. He looked similar to the way he did on his last date with William.
Damien and William had come to the decision that the best thing for them would be to break up. William was heading off to fight in the war and Damien had just been elected Mayor. It would be too difficult to maintain a distanced relationship, especially one that would ruin their careers and their lives if it was revealed. Damien knew that it was necessary but he didn't like it. He would rather still have William in his life as a friend than not have him in his life because he'd been killed for his sexuality. They still cared for eachother deeply, loved each other even, so they set up a last date to help them end it with a good memory that would last. Damien's friend had lent them his large house for the evening, which included a fully-stocked large kitchen and even a ballroom. The staff had left for the night by the time they'd arrived, so the only person who would need to keep their secret was the owner of the house, who already knew, and his lover, who was also male. They were free to be themselves for the night.
They started the evening by making dinner together and making a mess in the kitchen. Their food had started to grow cold by the time they actually got to eating it, due to their need to clean up their mess. After eating, they parted into separate rooms and got dressed into dancing clothes. Damien decided to forego his usual full suit and wore just the shirt and jacket with the top button undone. They both arrived in the ballroom and Damien set up the large gramophone to play their shared favorite album. They met in the middle of the room and William bowed and held out his hand. "May I have this dance?" Damien took his hand and allowed himself to be pulled flush against the other man. "You may," he whispered into his lover's ear.
They spun around the ballroom for what seemed like hours, only stopping to flip the record over. They were so caught in the whirlwind of the music and eachother that they didn't even realize that it had started raining outside. They danced until their feet felt like they were falling off and only stopped because Damien's legs decided to give in. William caught him and gently carried him over to the couch that was up against the wall of the ballroom. He handed Damien his cane and sat down next to him. "I wish we could stay like this forever." Damien said, laying his head on William's shoulder. William sighed and kissed the top of the Mayor's head. "Me too, my love."
The next day, William shipped out. By the time he had returned home, he was the Colonel. That's what he made his friends call him, and that's all Damien was anymore; a friend.
That date was the last time Damien had seen the Colonel truely happy. He pushed the thought aside as he felt resistance in his body, like something was trying to break out. He let it, there was no reason for him to fight it anymore. He let the entity take control of his mind and warp his thoughts until he felt he could no longer be called Damien anymore. He wasn't Damien anymore, nor was he Celine. They were the anti-Mark. Their entire purpose was to destroy him. They embraced the name that the entity had given them.
They were Darkiplier.