Work Text:
Creak…
A sound that not many would think of as comforting, yet not disturbing in a normal sense.
The sun had since stopped shining by the time the girl even started to stir, the bed creaking under her weight as she sat up, having beaten the staff to getting up like normal. Untangling her hair from her antlers, letting her wings fall behind her as her feet touch the cold, broken ground, not a clue to how she looks. Time has been lost for years to her, she’s only 10 after all. Quietly, she makes her broken bed, the frame having given out years ago before she sits in the middle of the room, waiting to be gotten, not knowing long forgotten.
A force of habit that is, get up, make her bed, sit and wait to be taken away. A routine if you will. Time has become a concept that one does not know, at least one as young as her. The window has been blocked off for years, letting no light shine through.
Sitting in the darkness of the room, not even white noise to keep her company as the door creak opens…no person in a white coat enters, only a couple of teenagers…wait?! Teenagers?! Only the men in the white coats are allowed on her domain, right?!
-----------------------------
"Be careful of the glass, Dove. I already got cut trying to go through there!” A boy, no older than 13 calls out.
“Relax, Nidal, I know how to go through broken windows, unlike you!” The girl, identified as Dove replies as she slips through the broken window of the building, she seems no older than 17, “I’ve done this before so just stay close.”
Nidal rolls his eyes as he turns on his flashlight, looking around. A falling roof, the damage looking like it came from acid, not like the town isn’t known for that. Broken glass from windows and beakers scattered along the broken wood that one would call the floor. Scalpels and other unidentifiable tools sit with the glass. The wallpaper long gone as broken, rotting limbs from different species sit in a pile.
“GROSS! Why did I agree to this?!”
“Because you wanted to see what your older sister does for a living, people enjoy seeing these things be recorded after all. Besides, no one should still be here and the place is abandoned. Great content we got here! The people in the underground are going to love whatever we find here!”
Nidal rolls his eyes as he steps over some broken glass, “You’re insane, you know this?”
“I’m aware! But it keeps our people entertained and that’s all that matters.”
The two siblings walk in silence for a while, stepping over the remains of both humans and animals from what happened years ago. The farther the two of them go, the worse it gets. The doors have come off the hinges, well for some of the rooms anyways. Footsteps that don’t belong to them can be heard, an exact position is unable to be identified. Things that Dove is all too used to, doing exploring for a living makes you numb to most creepy and rotting things, as long as she gets paid, she’ll explore any place that calls. Nidal on the other hand, hates this kind of stuff, he only came so his older sister wouldn’t get killed here, the elders would not be too happy about that and he would probably be killed in the worst way possible if he did let her die but is he gonna tell her that is actually why he came? Never in a million years.
“So…what exactly was this place known for back in the day?”
“Ya’know, the usual. Experiments were honestly the big thing from what I was told.”
“E-experiments?! What kind of experiments?! WHY?!” Nidal quickly covers his mouth, not having meant to yell.
“SHH! They’ll hear you! As for your questions, experiments to test the limits of nature. See how far humans and animals could be pushed before they become weapons of war. That kind of thing. Similar to some of the tech experiments that our people do today…just with people.”
“Soo, not very comforting then. And you just accept this because?”
A quiet giggle from Dove, a grin slowly appearing on her face, “Because, this my dear brother, is what the elders would call, the peak of humanity. Pushing nature to its limits and beyond. I can’t wait to see what information we find around here to bring back to the elders!”
Nidal just sighs in disappointment as he follows his older sister through the broken down asylum, avoiding the cobwebs that are starting to appear around them. He can’t believe his older sister still believes in the elders after letting their mother get killed like she was. Not like their father was any better, he was just as loyal as his sister is.
The two spend a couple of hours just walking around the place before they finally come across a room with an intact door. Dove, being the person who just throws caution to wind, pushes the door open, the door creaking under its own weight. The two are immediately greeted with a small child, who looks no older than 10 years old, if that, sitting in the middle of the room.
The child has brown matted hair with dirty blond streaks, deer antlers and tail, the wings of a bird. There’s bandages covering her body, her eyes being two different colors, one brown and one gold. Scars litter her body from head to toe, making her look like a doll torn apart and pieced back together again and again.
Before either of the siblings could get a word in, the child is already backing away from them and towards the wall, which causes a smirk from Dove.
“Well this is new!” Dove starts to approach the small child, hands behind her back, “The elders are going to love you dearly! And I’m definitely going to be paid well for being something from the peak of humanity back to the underground.”
Before Dove can even get close to the small child, Nidal grabs her arm, pulling her back. “DOVE! You can’t just approach someone like that! Who knows if she even wants to go back with us! She looks terrified! Not to mention, it’s also wrong to bring her back with us! Who knows what the elders will do to her!”
“Oh! Would you shut up about what’s wrong! You don’t even know what’s wrong! You’re just a child! I know what’s right and what’s wrong and taking this thing with us is the right thing to do!”
“No it’s not! We can’t just force someone to go with us! She’s still a person!”
The arguing between the two only gets louder as the child bumps into the wall, not knowing what to do. She’s terrified of the older girl and how she’s acting…like a monster! Like how her masters acted… She needs to get out of here before either of the two can harm her but she doesn’t know where to go, the two humans are blocking the exit. She can’t run.
The arguing between the siblings only continues to escalate as the boy holds the girl back, not even hearing the small whimper from the child.
“You’re being foolish, Nidal! This is what the elders would want and we do what they ask!” Dove manages to break out of her brother’s grip, heading towards the child, her tone softening slightly, wanting to give the child a slight sense of security so she can capture her. “Hey, come here. I don’t bite sweetie.”
A small whimper in response.
“Give it up, Dove. She’s not gonna come with us, besides, we can’t exactly just take her out of here…nor can we just leave her here...” The last part Nidal had muttered, not wanting Dove to overhear him. He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a crushed cookie bag and approaching the small child, staying low to the ground to look non-threatening as he holds out the bag. “Here, you must be hungry. Hey, hey. It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to give you this,” He rubs the back of his neck, “even if it is a little crushed. It’s still good to eat, I swear!”
Hesitantly uncurling herself, the child reaches out and takes the bag, letting out a soft “T-Thank you” as she does. Slowly, she opens the bag, quietly starting to eat while also watching the two. She doesn’t trust the older one with the white streaks in her black hair.
The boy sits down across from the child, keeping his hands in her view. “Hi, name’s Nidal. The grump over there is my older sister, Dove. She’s certainly something, I’ll tell ya. What’s your name, kiddo?”
“C-Carmilla…” A quiet mumble from the child in response, “Well that’s at least what the m-masters called me when they didn’t call me EXP-318149131.”
“Carmilla, huh? That’s a pretty name.”
“Too long for the elders' liking, we need to shorten it!”
“Shut it, Dove. Let her keep her name, it’s probably the only thing she has left, especially after what she’s been put through. People aren’t just born with antlers and wings, ya know.”
That earns a scoff from Dove, she could care less about what her brother thinks. She just needs to get this child back to the underground and to the elders so she can get paid. Her brother of all people should understand that, this is how she’s made a living since she was his age and this is how she’ll continue to make a living till the day she’s killed. The more information she can bring back from the peak of humanity, the more the elders can learn and bring that time back.
“She’s exactly what the elders are looking for! If they can study her, we can bring that time back. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been since that time, we just need it back.”
“You’re a fool, Dove. Bringing her to the elders isn’t right.” He scoots closer to Carmilla, "Besides, she deserves a chance to live and be free, like a bird. Well, I guess she kinda is like a bird with those wings and all but that’s not the point! The point is, she deserves to be free. Not taken and put in a cage where she’ll just be harmed even more than she already has been. She’s just a child.”
Another scoff from Dove. “Please! That thing? A child?! That’s far from what she is. She’s the key to restore humanity just like the elders want. Just like what I want.” Dove goes to approach the child again, only for Carmilla to quickly curl up against Nidal’s chest. She wraps her wings around herself, trying to protect herself from being harmed but the older girl.
“Nidal, let me have her. She needs to be taken to where she belongs!”
This time, Nidal is the one who scoffs as he picks up Carmilla, who’s very light compared to how she should be. “Which isn’t here or with the underground. I don’t care what the elders say, I’m not letting you take her and cause further harm to her.”
Nidal quickly bolts out of the room, nearly tripping on dismembered bodies as he makes his way through the ruined building. He doesn’t look back, not even once. All he knows is that his sister is following him as he carries Carmilla out of there.
-----------------------------
“DAMN IT! Where did he go! The elders are going to kill me if they learn that I let him get away with the gold!” Dove slumps against a wall on the outside of the asylum as the sun starts to rise. She doesn’t know what to do anymore. Not only did she lose her brother but she also lost the one thing that could’ve restored humanity as a whole. The one thing that brought humans and animals together using technology to mix and breed them. The one thing that might reveal to her brother what he truly is. She looks over towards the treeline, the overgrown greens, a much more welcoming place then going back to the underground would be right now. She sighs, why can’t Nidal understand that she’s doing this for the both of them? To give them a better future and to be higher ranking in the underground. To keep him alive.
-----------------------------
Carmilla looks up at Nidal as he tries to start a fire in the cave, wide eyes. She’s never seen fire that wasn’t being used to harm before. After several failed attempts, Nidal manages to get the fire started.
“I’m sorry.”
A small head tilt in response from the girl as she scoots closer to the fire. “W-why?”
“For letting her think that she could even get to you. You’re not an object, not some toy for others to have fun with and discard when they're done. You’re a human, Carmilla, albeit a modified one, but a human nonetheless. You deserve to be loved and cared for. Not cut up and harmed only to be put back together at the end of the day. I can’t promise that she won’t or the underground won’t try to find us but I can promise this, I’m going to protect you at all costs, even if it costs me my life.”
“...n-no..don’t do that. You need to live too.”
Nidal sighs, turning to look at the deer-bird child. “If they find us, they’re going to kill me first and then take you. If I can hold them off, when they do find us, you can make a run for it…and get out of here. Finally, live your own life.” He sighs, “Come on, let’s try to get some sleep. We’ll continue running tonight, under the cover of darkness.”
As Nidal sits against the wall, trying to go to sleep, even just for a bit, he feels Carmilla curl up against his side. She nuzzles her face into him, nearly hitting him with her antlers as her tail sways from side to side. It’s peaceful here in the cave, just the two of them. No threats around as far as they’re aware. Quietness a close companion once the fire died out.
-----------------------------
The slosh of mud beneath her feet, rain pouring down around her. She can’t help but wonder why her brother would run away with the gold like that. Is he no longer loyal to the underground? Is he just like their mother? Dove doesn’t know anymore. Is losing the only family she has left worth it for status? Very much so, the elders did tell her to kill anyone in their way afterall. She’ll just have to drag his dead body back for the elders to use as well. Maybe they could bring him back.
Walking through the woods as the sun comes up, smelling smoke that shouldn’t be there. Bingo! Dove approaches the cave like there’s some predator inside, knife in her hand. Two sleeping bodies cuddled up together against the wall, one bigger than the other. The twitch of a bird’s wing and the subconscious adjusting of a sleeping body.
A sadistic smile creeps up on Dove’s face as she approaches the sleeping duo. She brings the knife up and to the neck of the male, slashing through the flesh, blood quickly pooling at the wound.
“I wish I could say that I was sorry, brother…But I’m not. The elders will be more than delighted to see you two brought back, albeit, half alive.”
It’s silent for a few moments as Dove watches to make sure the gold hasn’t woken up yet before gagging her. Sighing as she starts to move the two bodies, one dead and one asleep outside. Hopefully, this is enough for the elders to be satisfied.
-----------------------------
The room is dark as she enters, her once dark clothes perfect for hunting, now replaced with clothes of white. Pure, holy, white. Her heels click against the tile as she walks. Coming to a stop, heels clicking together, she bows.
“You’ve done well, my dear. Your sacrifices will be remembered as we continue our mission to restore humanity back to its former glory. From this day on, dear, you are no longer a black dove, but a white Dove.”