#steneil

He was still reading when a door opened behind him.

"Excuse me." said a cold voice. "What are you doing in here?"

Oh shit.

Stel crumpled up the paper quickly and turned to face the man who had just stepped in and was eyeing him with obvious suspicion.

"I- er- th-the door was unlocked-" He blurted out without thinking.

The other narrowed his eyes slightly.

He looked as Stellan had expected, of course. Neat, clean, put together. No hint of that bottomless darkness in his eyes, no stubble yet. He knew what to expect but seeing it was something else. For a few moments he just stared as Cornelius seized him up.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave, sir." He said coldly.

"No- wait, I'm here for a reason!" He held up his hands in defense, still clutching that crumbled note. Cornelius noticed it before he could realize his mistake and the gears were starting to turn in his mind.

Where's Deimos?

Stellan only had seconds before he would lose this opportunity and his anxiety started to rise again. He let the words spill out.

"I'm here for- something so important, and I know it sounds crazy but please, you have to believe me. People's lives depend on it." He sounded desperate and it seemed to have worked for now, stopping Cornelius from kicking him out yet.

Stellan kept talking. Maybe if he kept talking long enough, his words would start to make sense. Maybe Cornelius would believe him. It all hinged on Cornelius believing him, otherwise they were all fucked and Stellan would die alongside everyone else, regretting it with every last second.

"I'm from a future timeline - yes, I know how it sounds. But something terrible is about to happen, Cornelius. I need to prevent it."

Cornelius tried to maintain his neutral expression. Stellan could pick up the doubt in his gaze.

"Deimos isn’t here because he tried to stop it too. He's out there right now, connecting his mind to Franky's in hopes of stopping the recent mass murder. He's going to fail. And we need to-”

He didn't get any further as Cornelius was already pushing past him towards the door. Of course that was the wrong thing to say. The moment Stellan mentioned Deimos, anything else was irrelevant. He could already see it happening: Cornelius looking for Deimos, the horrible realization that his friend was gone, the denial, refusing to accept it and slipping further and further into an endless doomed cycle until the man that comes out on the other side is the broken, cynical husk of who he once was, tortured beyond what anyone should have to bear.

How often Stellan had felt helpless in his presence, knowing he was in unfathomable pain and not being able to take it away from him. That was why he had traveled back here in the first place.

If he didn’t convince Cornelius, he was going to be fail the mission, Neil and the entire Office. The desperation which had bubbled up slowly over the course of his travel had reached its limit and Stellan was certain he was going to get crushed to death underneath it. He reached out and grabbed Cornelius harder than he meant to.

"You and Deimos are going to die." He had his attention once again; for however long, he was going to use it.

"You're going to die the worst deaths imaginable. It has already happened before. Deimos is going to lose himself until all that's left is a monster hellbent on torturing everyone around him. There's nothing you can do to stop it, you've already tried. You built a time machine and came back to this day again and again to try and save him. You broke time. Nothing worked and in the end you had to do something even more extreme. And even then, it didn't work. You couldn't save him or kill him and it destroyed you, Cornelius. You can’t imagine how much."

Cornelius' brows were furrowed together, in the absurdity of the situation he didn't seem to care about keeping his unreadable expression up. He was worried for Deimos, Stellan knew and he would dismiss his rantings.

Stellan knew he looked insane, breaking in and exclaiming he was from the future. Cornelius would think he was simply a Stanley gone mad, broken one too many times by the Narrator and somehow placing the blame of his delusions on Deimos.

Fear and desperation urged him on. His skin prickled, knowing something was going on outside. Had Deimos already gone mad? Was that screaming he heard or just the rush of his heartbeat, deafening in his ears?

"Listen to me, Cornelius. You can’t save him, not on your own. But if you called someone in, like- like Helianthus-"

"Excuse me." Cornelius snapped, pushing him away. "I'm afraid I don't have time to listen to your babbling, I'll deal with you after I checked on Deimos."

Stellan reached out to grab him again, but he was too slow. Cornelius easily side stepped his hand, ignoring his shouts and opened the door.

It was like they had transported to another place. The hallway was pitch black and eerily quiet, as if all the air had been sucked away. As Cornelius stepped outside, the lights flickered on dimly, casting a creepy green glow that barely lit up the path in front of him. Stellan had never seen such an obvious trap before, it seemed like everything was a clear sign telling them to STAY AWAY. DO NOT ENTER but Cornelius seemed blind to it.

He hurried down the hallway, still intent on finding Deimos. Stellan cursed under his breath and ran after him.

He didn't dare grab the scientist again, all too familiar with how quickly he could inject Stellan with a tranquilizer. The last thing he wanted to do was sleep through the wake of the apocalypse.

The air was heavy and there was the faint smell of blood, lingering around them. It hadn’t been too long ago that Franky’s mind had snapped and he had killed everyone who was foolish enough to step in his way – or couldn’t flee fast enough. Blood had seeped into the carpets and the wallpaper, and the smell could not go away, no matter how many times the Office restarted.

Stellan never experienced any of it himself. He would’ve still been in Jonathan’s bunker right now, locked helplessly in a deep sleep. He wondered, briefly, if in Neil’s time, the Antagonist had dragged his unconscious body out to join the others in their endless nightmares. He shuddered at the thought.

Aside from their steps, the hallways remained silent. No hum of electricity or screams of those being butchered rose to meet them as they wandered around, looking for any signs of life. Stellan glanced around nervously, fully expecting Deim- Phobos to melt out of the shadows and grab them. Or worse, grab Cornelius.

At least Neil would come for him, right? Would he? Or Stellan had fucked up and changed the course of time so there would be no Neil to rescue him. That's why Neil had protested in the first place. He didn't want Stellan to go in there.

Well, Neil. Stellan thought. If I don’t make it back, I'm sorry I messed up.

So caught up in his regrets, he nearly ran straight into Cornelius as the other suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

"What?" Stel whispered, but got no response.

The scientist was staring into the darkness, expression blank, though his eyes were searching. They waited. Nothing happened.

Just as Stellan was about to suggest they head back and maybe not wander around the creepy dark Office, the shadows shifted.

Something was approaching them from the hallway. Stellan couldn't make out if it was Franky, possessed or Deimos but- but their eyes were glowing green and he swore he saw their expression twisted into something unnatural. A grin, a scowl, whatever it was it sent ice cold panic down Stel's spine. He grabbed Cornelius' arm. The other man was still frozen.

"Tsk. Didn’t I tell you to stay inside your lab, Cornelius?”

Cornelius shuddered. And - to Stellan's horror - he stepped forward, approaching the figure with a determined expression.

"Deimos." He began, trying to shake Stellan's arm off him, half halfheartedly. Stellan refused to budge.

“Deimos is dead.” The being hissed as it came closer. Still wrapped in the shadows yet now it was more visible, the uncanny approximation of what used to be the beaming, kind hearted prince. His grin was stretched into a sinister smile, his usual gentle eyes wide and crazed. Stellan had never seen someone look in so much pain, like he was being eaten alive from the inside out. Whatever had happened after he connected himself to Franky’s mind, it had shattered him. Neil had warned him, yet t he reality of seeing it was worse than he could’ve imagined.

"We need to leave." Stellan whispered, horrified. "We need to go. Now. Now, Cornelius, that- you know that isn't him anymore. You can't help him like this, let's go."

Deimos – or what had once been Deimos - lurched forward and it broke the spell. Suddenly they were moving, running back to Cornelius' lab.

The hallways stretched around them, leading in confusing patterns that were not there before. It was like the entire Office was trying to prevent them from escaping. The monster’s deranged laugh was right in their ears, promising them they’ll never get away in time. Only once was Stellan brave enough to glance backwards and he saw nothing but darkness behind them.

Cornelius grabbed him and pulled him through a door. The sounds stopped the moment it slammed shut and once again they were standing in the cool light of the Lab. The usual warmth of the room was gone. It felt cold, empty, devoid of life. It didn’t feel any better than the horrors of the hallways outside, but at least the Antagonist couldn’t – or wouldn’t – follow them here.

Stellan wondered how long they had.

The sound of clattering brought him back to the present. Cornelius was not wasting any time pulling out everything he had, from syringes to potions to items that may have either been magic or futuristic, some things Stellan had even seen briefly in Neil’s shelter. His normalcool was gone, replaced now by a grim resolve and a panic in his eyes he couldn’t fully hide.

Stellan knew what he must be thinking. The futile hope, that if he could just calm Deimos down and fix the harm Franky’s mind had done on him then maybe he could save everyone. Reverse this. Save Deimos. His best friend. They had been inseparable for so long and they had loved each other. Whether it had been platonic or romantic, Stellan hadn’t been sure but he knew it had been deep and meaningful, their relationship had meant the world. Cornelius wasn’t going to just stand around and let Deimos succumb to his own madness. And that had been his biggest mistake.

“Cornelius. You- you see now, right? I wasn’t lying earlier.” Stellan tried but the scientist brushed him off.

“Not now, I need to concentrate on this.”

“No, listen to me!” He jumped in his path, blocking him from the filing cabinets he was approaching. Cornelius had his arms full, so he glowered coldly instead. Stellan pressed on, unperturbed. There were more frightening things going on right now than an angry Cornelius. A crazy Deimos, for example. And the knowledge of what will happen to Neil in the future.

“You’ve done this before, I already told you. You built a time machine, you broke Time, you become a space pirate-”

“What.”

“Not important! My point is, I know how the story ends and everything you tried to do didn’t work. It didn’t save anyone, especially not Deimos and especially not you. You can’t do this.”

“Then what,” Cornelius demanded. “Is the point of you showing up here? Did you travel back in time like a- like a fool, just to tell me it’s hopeless to try anything?”

“ No, I-…” Stellan swallowed nervously, lowering his arms. “I have another plan.”

There is no guarantee this will work, Neil had warned him. The stakes had been lower. Helianthus had shown up when the Dreamy Deity had messed with the Offices. The Dreamy Deity had been the fusion between what was left of the Antagonist and Augustin, an angelic being who declared himself the new ruler of the White Office. They had been powerful, powerful enough to wipe memories and control people’s minds.

And of course, Stellan had no guarantee that Deimos – Phobos – whoever they were now – will survive in this timeline. Maybe Helianthus wouldn’t bother to save him. Maybe he would cast him away in disgust of what had once been his grandson. Maybe this time it would be the loneliness and the crushing knowledge of not having been able to save his friend that would break Cornelius, rather than the endless years of torture and death.

“H- Helianthus. Deimos’ grandfather.” He continued. “In the future, he had helped with something similar. He’s powerful enough and- and I know how to summon him. There’s a specific ritual, if you set it up I can help you. I’ve done it before. He is more powerful than either of us, he can stop Phobos before he goes too far.”

“Deimos.” Cornelius corrected him, automatically. His eyes searched Stellan’s, spotting the doubt in his eyes. “... what will happen to Deimos if we do this?”

“I don’t know.”

A long pause.

“But, I do know what will happen to both of you if we don’t. Deimos gets worse. He ends up trapping everyone he can get his hands on in their worst nightmares, torturing them over and over again. He absorbs the Narrator’s powers and uses that to cause even more pain. He feeds on their fears, he hurts them. And- and you-”

It’s weird to compare the two. Cornelius and Neil. They are the same person but right now, they barely look related.

It’s even stranger to know that he was going to develop feelings for the man standing in front of him, whose only goal was to save his friend. Of course, if this went right, nothing he experienced with Neil would have ever happened. All the nights drinking, talking, keeping each other company, it will have only existed in a timeline that will disappear.

Stellan wasn’t sure what would await him in the future. Maybe nothing will have changed or Cornelius would be reunited with Deimos and they wouldn’t know each other. Maybe neither Cornelius nor Deimos would be waiting when he got back.

He loved Neil and he would miss him, but it would be worth it. If never seeing him again was the price he had to pay, then he would be glad to pay it.

“You’re in so much pain that sometimes it hurts to look at you. You had to remove your ability to sleep because you couldn’t deal with the nightmares anymore. Cornelius the gentleman is gone, in his place is Neil, the Archivarius, a man who is bitter and abrasive, who pushes everyone away because he can’t bear to see anyone he cares about die anymore. He tries to stop feeling with substances and meaningless flings and yet he’s still terrified. For his thanks of saving the Universe, he is hated and feared by people who couldn’t care to see past his walls.”

But not by everyone, Stellan thought, smiling sadly.

Cornelius was regarding him with a blank face. It was a crazy story, but then again, crazier things have happened in the Office, right? And he did see with his own eyes what happened to Deimos. It was clear it wasn’t Deimos anymore.

“...alright.” He said, reluctantly and put all the stuff he was holding down. Stellan breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you.”

“We will try it. If it doesn’t work…”

“If it doesn’t work, I’ll help you find another way, in any way I can. I promise.”

Together they studied the ritual Neil had written down for them, Stellan giving him directions of how the summoning was supposed to go.

Neither of them knew what was waiting for them, if Helianthus would be able or willing to help them, yet the attempt was worth it.