Doppelganger

"What the-? Where are we?" Carmilla got to her feet slowly. "What am I wearing?" she studied her clothes as she stood up. The last things she remembered wearing were black boots, black leather pants, a white tee, and a black sleeveless leather jacket. Oh, and just for good measure, she had two black leather bracelets as well. But now? Well, she still had her black boots and black leather pants, but her tee and jacket had turned into one black tank top. In addition, there was a plaid shirt tied around her waist and her hair, which had once been hanging down in a black curtain, was now tied up in a ponytail, part of the bangs swept over her right eye. Her black leather bracelets were gone too.

"Whoa! Who? What? When? Where? Where am I?" Carmilla's companion, Laura, stood up as well, though she hopped up way faster. Just like Carmilla, however, she had gone through a minor appearance change. She had gone from wearing dark brown pants and a blue button-up with white butterflies on it, to wearing black pants and a solid maroon shirt. What?

"Where are we?" Laura repeated.

"I don't know, Creampuff, but I have a feeling we aren't alone..." the vampire's dark eyes narrowed. This place, this long empty hallway, seemed vaguely familiar, but she just couldn't place it. It was like the library had transported her body here, but not her mind. At least not as quickly.

"What could it be that the library wanted us to do here?" Laura voiced Carmilla's thoughts.

"I don't know," Carmilla repeated, a frustrated look flickering across her face. "Should we explore?"

"Are you sure?" Laura seemed hesitant.

Just for a moment, Carmilla felt something in her chest squeeze. It was amazing, and sad, how much they'd changed. Now she was the one proposing that they go exploring while Laura was being the cautious, reluctant one. She was so afraid of making another mistake that she was refusing to do anything other than exist. It was an understandable reaction, given what happened during second semester, but it was still a painful thing for Carmilla to see. Her sweet little sun-dance had become scared and apathetic.

Meanwhile, Carmilla was starting to feel and to fight. Now, it looked like they just might have to fight. After all, Carmilla was sure that the library wanted to show them something important. Why else would it have communicated with them, through the Morse code of dropping books on heads, that it needed to take them somewhere private?

So Carmilla took in a breath that she didn't need and steeled her nerves. If Laura was out of commission, Carmilla was going to pick up the slack. It was very different from how she'd behaved at the start of this year, but what wasn't at this point? She willed herself to be strong, both for her sake and Laura's, and she nodded in response to Laura's worried question.

"Just stay close," she commanded, then she crept down the hall, Laura following shyly behind.

At last, the duo reached a door at the end of the hall. Carmilla bade for Laura to be quiet before gesturing to her own ears, a clear sign that she could hear someone talking through the door. She pressed her ear against the door, then her eyes got impossibly wide.

"What?" Laura whispered. Carmilla only held up a hand for silence. She squeezed her eyes shut.

"It can't be," she said, still listening hard.

"What?" Laura repeated, joining Carmilla at the door. She couldn't hear anything other than a few mumbles. It was enough to let her know that there was in fact someone behind the door, but she couldn't recognize any voices or words being said. But Carmilla could.

"It's... it's... it's us!" the vampire breathed at last, ear still at the door.

"What?" for a third time, Laura was left in the dark.