Chapter Text
There were many things that Michael Shelley was. He did not think, however, that brave would be on that list. That was why, as he stared down a strange creature born from shadows, he questioned why he had ever signed up for a position at The Magnus Institute in the first place.
He had several batteries stored in his pocket, and the industrial strength torch in his hand shone directly on the thing. He kept the light trained on it, inching forward towards it carefully.
That was when the strange creature of the Dark lunged, and his memory blanked out.
When he next regained consciousness, beeping greeted his ears, and a bright light burned behind his eyelids. A good sign; that meant he had survived. A bit concerning, since he had no idea what happened, but that was a worry for a later hour.
He turned his head sideways and cracked an eye open carefully. Only after the sudden absence of voices did he notice that people had been speaking. Turning his head the other way he saw Gertrude sitting in a chair next to the bed, an unreadable expression on her face.
He opened his mouth, trying to croak out an apology for the mess he had gotten into, but she put her hand up before he could, stopping him before he could start.
“Don't apologize. I should have known better than to send you where I knew the Dark's creatures were lurking about,” she said, lowering her hand and glancing at the door.
Leaning against the door frame was a man that Michael had never seen around the Archives. He was tall, though still shorter than Michael, with rather poorly dyed hair, and dark bags under his eyes. The most peculiar thing about him, though, were faint tattoos, all in the shapes of eyes, set over every visible joint.
His eyes flicked back to Gertrude, who had shifted her own vision back to him, seemingly waiting for him to say something now.
“What...” he was cut off by a sharp cough that tore through him. His voice was hoarse, cracking where it wasn't choked. After a few moments the coughs subsided and he managed to wheeze out a faint, “What happened?”
It was the stranger who spoke this time. His voice was low, and Michael could only think to describe it otherwise as warm, with a soft tone despite the words he was saying. “You nearly got your head torn off by one of the Dark's creatures. Only reason you survived, I'd say, is because the sun burnt it away before it could finish you off,” he said, smirk firmly in place.
Gertrude sighed, shooting the man a withering glance before turning her attention back to Michael. “Someone called an ambulance when they saw you, and I was contacted. Gerard came with me as he needed to talk to me about a job that he was on,” she said, “You're lucky you lived. Why did you think that taking on one of the Dark's creatures alone was a good idea?”
Michael shrugged as best as he could. There was a sharp pain in his shoulder as he made the movement. He did his best to ignore it, but clearly something showed on his face as Gerard rolled his eyes and spoke up.
“Gertrude, he just woke up, let him get his head on straight,” he chided, arms crossed. “I'm going to go let one of the nurses know you're awake.”
With that, he pushed off the door frame and turned out the door, disappearing from view.
Gertrude didn't look too pleased at being told to let Michael come into himself a bit more, but to her credit she didn't press any further. Instead, she pulled her phone out, entering the code and busying herself with checking various apps. The silence made the relatively short time that they were alone in the hospital room together seem to stretch into eternity. It couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes from Gerard leaving to when he returned with a rather surprised looking nurse, but it felt like hours had passed.
“We weren't expecting you to be up for another day at least,” the nurse said, setting a tray on the overbed table next to the bed. She helped him sit up more, adjusting the bed until he gave the okay for comfort levels, and rolled the table over so the top was resting over his lap. “It's good to see that you're doing better, though! I'm going to do a quick check of your vitals, and ask some questions if that's alright? I'll try to stick to things that have single word answers.”
With a nod, Michael let her do her job, answering yes or no where applicable, and giving a pain level assessment when she asked.
“Do you know what happened to you? What attacked?” she asked, glancing up from her clipboard.
Michael grimaced. “Dog attack. I, I only remember it lunging, nothing else,” he said. It wasn't a complete lie. The thing sure looked vaguely enough like a dog for it to count.
“Are you sure? It must have been a pretty large dog for it to leave the injuries it did,” she said, noting something down. “Was it domesticated, or was it a wild dog?”
“Do you mean... like a wolf or something?”
The nurse hummed, nodding.
He shrugged, grimacing at the way his shoulder ached. He had to stop doing that. “Not sure. It... it was pretty dark out, so I, I, I'm not sure if it was a stray or if it was wild.”
She jotted another note down. “Well, we're going to take some extra precautions just in case. I doubt you'll need a rabies shot, but we're going to give you one anyways, just to be safe rather than sorry. You've been stitched up, and you could be released by tomorrow if things continue to look as good as they do now,” she said with a bright smile. “You were pretty lucky, all things considered.”
“Yeah, yeah, so I figured,” Michael laughed.
As the nurse left the room, Gertrude raised an eyebrow at him. “I didn't know you were quite so adept at lying to people,” she said.
“I'd, I'd say 'like it's hard', but I, I, I know you're trying to say something else here,” he replied, too tired for the mind games he was so used to from other members of the Institute.
With an entertained huff, Gertrude continued. “Do you lie at work?” she questioned, voice light, but a dark look in her eyes. He had a feeling that this would not be the last time that he saw that same darkness in her.
He shook his head. “Only, uh... O-only good at it to people I don't know well? Around the Institute I've, y'know, I've gotten to be on fairly good terms with most people, so I'm too nervous to lie to them,” he explained, “If I figure that I'll be seeing someone around often, i-it's harder to as well.”
Gertrude nodded once, looking away. She pursed her lips, her brow furrowing as she glanced at Gerard, who seemed to be just as confused as Michael felt. “Gerard,” she said.
Gerard let out a questioning hum in response, standing up a bit straighter.
“You and Michael are going to be working together after this. With one of my assistants working on your job, you’ll receive more funding, and I feel like his skills would be useful, considering what you do.” She gave no room for argument.
Michael and Gerard took a moment to just stare at the other, neither sure that they had processed what she’d said. Gerard looked away first, disbelief on his face as he waited for Gertrude to continue. When she didn't, he shook his head and sputtered out a, “Hang on: what ?”
“The two of you are both dangers to yourselves, your jobs, and society at large in the wrong situation. You'll probably fare better with someone to balance out the ridiculous things you do,” Gertrude elaborated with a heavy sigh. “Michael, you're being reassigned once you get out of the hospital. You and Gerard will be getting the same information to follow from now on, and he'll train you on the field work that he does.”
“I thought that... what about... I was supposed to head out from here once he woke up?” Gerard stuttered out, glancing between Michael and Gertrude several times.
“And now you're going to stay in the area until Michael has healed and make sure whatever it was that tried to kill him won't be returning to finish the job.”
One thing that Gertrude Robinson was good at was leaving no room for argument when she was done with a conversation. As Gerard sputtered out the start of a few more protests, he seemed to deflate as she turned her attention away from him. It was a rather sad sight, Michael thought, as he saw the confused and hurt look in Gerard's eyes and the way he folded back into himself with a slight scowl.
“Even if you're released tomorrow, take another day or two. You need more than one day of rest before you start hunting down Leitners with Gerard,” she said, addressing Michael now. “At the start of next week, I want you both to come into the Archives early. We'll address the matter of... well, all of it, more in depth then.”
Michael nodded wordlessly. He really didn't know what else to do other than go along with what she was asking of him. She was his boss, and this was her call for his job. He supposed if this really didn't work out, he could just go to HR and ask about being reassigned again, but he... rather hoped that it didn't come to that, actually. He was wary about admitting it, but there was something rather intriguing about Gerard. He had such a harsh appearance, such deep frown lines already, and yet when he spoke it was with a gentleness and warmth that was completely unexpected.
Her piece said, Gertrude stood up, wished Michael a goodnight, and left the room. Gerard didn't seem to know what to do, still leaning against the wall and staring after her in confusion and suspicion.
“So you, uh, hunt down Leitners?” Michael asked. It was worth a shot to try and learn a bit more about his newest colleague.
Gerard shrugged. "Yeah, but it's not really on the Institute's records. I've got a pretty personal grudge against the bastard, and this lets me get that out. Since it’s also getting me more information about the Entities... Well, it's not like I can complain too much."
"Wait, so you don't work for the Institute?"
"Not on paper, no," he said, "That would be a liability for me. Not that I want to work on the records for them anyways. Elias is a creep, and I'd really rather avoid him as much as possible."
A short bout of silence stretched out between them. Michael worried that if he asked too much, pried too much, he would push Gerard away before they even began working together formally. Just as he settled on asking about how he and Gertrude met, Gerard spoke up, stopping him before he could begin.
"So why the hell were you going after one of the Dark's creatures solo, anyways? You couldn't have thought it would actually go well, right?" Gerard’s eyes drifted to the bandages at Michael's shoulder and on his arms.
Michael laughed at that. "I, I mean, I did have an industrial strength torch, as well as a good dozen spare batteries on me. I just... didn't actually think through what I would do once I found it," he explained., "Didn't actually think I'd, um, get that far."
Gerard shook his head. "And that's why I'm wary about Gertrude putting you up to this. Not only are you registered as an employee in the Archives, but you don't really have much field work experience, do you?"
"H-hang on, what does me being an Archives employee have to do with this?"
"D'you not know about the whole spooky 'you can't quit from the Archives' thing?"
That was enough to stun Michael. He really thought he knew the extent of the weirdness of the Institute. "What do you mean Archival employees can't quit?"
"You physically can't quit. You can't just fuck off to the middle of nowhere, can't hand in a formal resignation letter, none of it. Give it a shot when you get out of here. I promise you that it won't work."
Michael was about to tell him that he rather liked his job, actually, so why would he even try to quit, when Gerard's phone went off. He answered with an over dramatic eye-roll.
“I assume you want me to finish up and get my ass down to catch the cab?” he said, a teasing grin on his face as he held the phone a couple inches away from his ear. There was a muffled shout on the other end of the phone that caused Gerard to crack up, and oh, that was certainly a sight, now wasn't it?
His nose crinkled up as he laughed, crooked smile pulling at his cheeks and squishing the corners of his eyes. He looked positively radiant as he laughed at Gertrude's irritated shouting through the phone, and gave a confirmation that he was heading down before hanging up.
“Well, you heard her, I presume. Most people in the hall probably did, as well. See you Monday at the Institute?” Gerard said, tucking his phone back into his pocket as he pushed himself off the wall and towards the door.
“Uh, yeah! Yeah. See you Monday,” Michael stammered out, returning the nod that Gerard gave to him as he left.
The weekend passed in a blur. He was released from the hospital the next day, and given instructions on how to care for his stitches along with a prescription for painkillers and antibiotics. On his way home, he'd picked up the necessary materials and medication from the pharmacy, and spent most of the rest of the day sleeping after taking one of the painkillers.
By Monday, he'd regained enough of his senses and needed few enough painkillers that he could return to work. He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do after Gertrude went over the details, however, as he wasn't quite well enough to go traipsing around the country looking for cursed books.
He gave Rosie a wave as he passed the front desk, and she smiled in return.
“It's nice to see you back, Michael! Hope you're feeling better.”
“It's nice to be back. I get restless when I’m stuck at home all the time,” he laughed, continuing on to the Archives. Rosie was fairly new to the Institute, even more than he was, and while she seemed about on edge as everyone else was about the Archives, she was welcoming. It was easier to get words out around her.
Michael knocked once on the door to Gertrude's office before taking the handle in his hand, and hesitated before opening it. Something felt off about this. He couldn't figure out why, but he didn't want to open any doors Gertrude directed him to. Slowly pulling his hand away from the handle, he waited, making no noise in the action.
When the door swung inwards and a very confused Gerard stared up at him, he relaxed, the moment having passed. Gerard's confusion melted away after a moment, a resigned expression taking its place as he turned and waved Michael in after him.
Michael followed, softly shutting the door behind him. Gertrude was sat at her desk, typing something out on her laptop, and didn't so much as glance at him as he took the seat Gerard offered him. It was only when Gerard hopped up to sit on her desk, leaning back to try and see what she was doing, that she closed the laptop fiercely. She glared up at him, and he shrugged, grinning smugly down at her.
“Now that you're both here, I presume we can start,” she said, setting the laptop aside and rifling through one of her desk drawers.
Gerard tilted his head up, leaning just a touch closer to her side of the desk as he continued to try to look at everything that she was going. Michael couldn't help but compare him to a black cat, between his seemingly endless curiosity and dark aesthetic. Gertrude snapped her desk drawer shut, shooting Gerard another glare, and set a folder on her desk, opening it to the first page.
“Michael, what you're doing is top secret work, do you understand me?” she said, a dark look in her eyes. When he nodded, she continued, “Gerard hunts down and investigates Leitners, as I mentioned back at the hospital. He's not on any official Institute contract, least of all an Archives contract, so the things that affect us will not affect him. You, however, may experience adverse side effects. If you do, write them down, and be sure to include when they happen, where they happen, and how long you've been away from the Archives.
“There are things out there far grander than us, and they are not positive beings. They are the culmination and personifications of all of humanity's deepest, most primal fears. It is… theorized that there are fourteen in total, the names of which you will learn rather quickly being put to this task. These Leitners belong to these entities, the Fears, in a sense. They are condensed energy from them, and are incredibly dangerous books. When you find them, you are not to read them, nor are you to try and test their abilities yourselves.”
“Dunno why you're addressing me there as well, Gertrude. You know that I know much better than to try and actually use a Leitner myself,” Gerard piped up, raising an eyebrow at her.
“I include you because I know that you're reckless and need reminders that it would do us both much better for you to stay broadly intact. My point is that this is a very dangerous job, and I cannot guarantee your safety while you're doing it.” Gertrude flipped through the papers in front of her, waving Gerard away with one hand. “Especially for you, Michael, due to your official contract with the Institute.”
“I... I'm sorry, I, I, I don't understand what you mean by that?” Michael said, trying to take in everything that he'd just learned.
“D'you remember what I told you as I was leaving?” Gerard asked.
Michael nodded after taking a moment to think about it. “You said something about the Archival employees being unable to quit? I, I don't know what that would have to do with me doing this rather than my usual office work, though.”
“If you are away from the Archives for too long, without Elias' approval, we're not sure what will happen. Presumably, you would just get rather ill and have to return to London -- back to the Archives,” Gertrude explained, “I'm not sure if this will still happen while technically doing work for the Archives with intent to return, but it certainly happens when trying to go off on unofficial permanent vacation.”
“I assume that I'll learn what Elias has to do with this later on?”
“Most likely, yes. Until then, just know that he cannot be trusted with this kind of information, and has ties to one, if not multiple, entities.”
Michael went silent, giving a simple nod in response. He looked down at his hands in his lap, where his fingers played with the hem of his sweater absently. It certainly was a lot of information to take in. He wanted to do well. He wanted Gertrude to be able to put her trust in him for jobs like this more often, so he intended to make good on his word.
“Alright,” he said finally, trying to keep his voice as even and steady as he could. “What is that we're going to be doing this time, then? Where are we headed?”
Gerard raised his eyebrows at the way Michael stared steadily at Gertrude before turning his own attention to her as well, ready and waiting for the next lead.
Apparently, they were headed to Spain, chasing a lead on a book that melted the flesh of those who finished reading it. Gerard seemed almost bored by the book's effect, rolling his eyes and muttering a “that's it?” when handed the papers on the various recorded run-ins with it. Michael, however, felt his stomach flip at the thought. It didn't sound very pleasant, not to witness nor experience.
“Desolation, then? Or is it Flesh?” Gerard asked, grimacing at a rather gruesome image in the files.
“Unsure. Be careful if you try to burn it to get rid of it -- that may backfire. I'd suggest just about any other way of destroying it,” Gertrude replied, sliding the files that Michael currently had no interest in reading back into the folder.
“Got it. No lighter fluid this time,” Gerard laughed, folding up the papers and tucking them into his jacket. Turning to Michael, he asked, “So, when do you think you'll be ready to head out?”
Michael startled, not expecting the attention to be turned onto him. “I, um, still have... well, I have to take antibiotics until the end of the week, and the pain is still fairly bad. It was a bit of a feat that I was even able to make it in today,” he chuckled, more due to his own nerves than because he found anything he was saying entertaining.
It was Gerard's turn to be startled, his eyebrows furrowing and lips pulling into a slight frown. “If you're still in pain, why did you come in? You don't have to push yourself if you're not well enough to actually do any work.”
“Well, w-we said that we would have this meeting Monday, which is today. I, I just... well, I suppose that had I called in, it would have been cancelled, but I didn't want you to have to bring yourself all the way here just to find out it was for no reason,” Michael stuttered out, trying to explain himself.
Gertrude sighed just as Gerard shook his head with a disbelieving laugh. “I'm around here basically daily until I get another lead, you know. I'd have been here anyways, and you could have just waited until you were well enough that you didn't need prescription grade painkillers just to move,” he said. “Gertrude, let him go home for the day. He seems half out of it, if that's the reasoning he jumped to.”
“That happens to be how he is, Gerard. Being ill or in pain wouldn't have changed his reasoning,” she grumbled. “But either way, Michael, please go home after this. It would do none of us well for you to push yourself too hard and postpone this trip further.”
“...Of course. I'll do that, then. Should I just call in when I'm feeling better?” he asked, standing slowly from his seat.
“Please do. You’ll be heading to Spain a couple days after you’re feeling better, so get your rest while you can.” Gertrude did her best to wave him off, tucking the folder back into her desk. “And Gerard?”
Gerard let out a questioning hum from where he sat on the edge of her desk, twiddling a nail file between his fingers.
“See Michael out, please. I have work to do, and it is not work that I'd like company for.”
“Got it,” he said, hopping off the desk easily, his sturdy boots thudding solidly as he landed. “Let's go.”
He opened the door for Michael once more, waving him out ahead of him, and the two left Gertrude alone in her office.
Gerard didn't speak more as he walked Michael to the front. It was only once they were outside of the Institute, standing on the front steps, that he asked, “How are you planning to get home?”
“Oh, I, um, was just going to take the tube. Cabs are rather pricey for someone on the salary of an Archival assistant,” Michael said, pausing on his way down the stairs.
“You sure you're in good enough condition for that? No offence, but it looks like the painkillers are starting to wear off.”
Michael shuffled uncomfortably at that. It wasn't like Gerard was wrong, not by a long shot. They'd started to wear off not too long ago, and his shoulder ached whenever he moved that arm. His chest wasn't doing much better, as there wasn't really any way they could set his cracked ribs. The exhaustion must have been showing on his face, because Gerard walked forward, hand raised as if to pat his shoulder, before lowering it once more as he thought better of it.
“I'll pay for the cab. It's really no problem, so don't try and argue,” he said, pulling his phone out and dialing a number off by heart.
Fifteen minutes later, Gerard was hopping in the back seat of the cab alongside Michael, who told the driver the address to go to.
When Michael questioned Gerard about how he planned to get back to the Institute, he'd simply shrugged and said he hadn’t needed to be around anymore that day. He'd also said something rather cryptic about tormenting local Fear Avatars, but Michael pointedly ignored that one.
When the cab arrived at Michael's flat, Gerard hopped out of the cab alongside him, handing the cab driver the fare before waving him off.
“Thank you, Gerard,” Michael said. “I'll, I'll, admit, I should probably be taking another painkiller very soon, even if not the prescription grade ones that I've got. Um, having multiple cracked ribs is not very pleasant.” He found that giving Gerard a genuine smile was much easier than he expected.
Gerard shrugged, his own lopsided grin pulling at his lips.“I've been there enough times that I'd know all too well,” he said. “And, uh, call me Gerry. It's what I've wanted friends to call me, and if we're going to be coworkers from now on, then I'd consider you a friend in this line of work.”
“Well then, Gerry, I, I'll be seeing you. Ms. Robinson will, uh, probably? Phone you when I'm back on my feet properly. I hope she will, at least. It, it would be easier than you having to go in daily, at least.”
“Yeah, sure thing. I'll remind her to do that tomorrow, then. Be seeing you!”
As Michael entered his flat and shut the door with a soft creak behind him, he had to steady himself. Gerry had been right; the cab had definitely been a better idea than the tube. He stumbled his way to the kitchen, flicking the light on and getting himself a glass of water before taking a couple of over the counter painkillers. No need to use the narcotic level medication more than once a day, he figured.
He changed back into his pyjamas from the previous night, tucking himself into bed. The last thing that crossed his mind as he did his best to doze off was that, when he got up to order dinner, he should really fill out another page in his journal.
April 18 th 2009,
I'm still rather sore; my stitches itch, and my chest aches from the attack. I did make it into the Institute for the meeting I had with Ms. Robinson and Gerard, however. It was... enlightening to say the least. Apparently, this is much more dangerous than what I was doing before, and requires me to travel outside of the country. I'm rather lucky that I've recently renewed my passport.
Gerard – Gerry, as he asked me to call him when he left earlier – was kind enough to pay for cab fare so I didn't have to take the tube as my painkillers began to wear off. He seems to be a very complicated person, and so very interesting! Future me, I hope that we get a chance to get to know him better. He's different on his own than when around Gertrude, and so very cryptic in his way of speaking.
I hope that you're doing better than I am now, future me. Ms. Robinson still doesn't seem to think very highly of me, but perhaps you've proven yourself more useful to her... However, there was something today that makes me wary of opening any doors that she tells me to that she isn't also going through. Keep that wariness in mind, since I believe that after what I learned today, it will keep you safe.
Will write to you again soon,
Michael Shelley.