Chapter Text
The phone barely rang before Elias picked it up. He didn’t need to look at the tab to see it was coming from Ms. Zampino’s desk.
“Mr. Bouchard? There’s a strange fog gathering in the lobby.”
“Yes, Rosie. We have discussed this. There is little to worry about if you do not go into it.”
“Yes, I know. I know what it looks like when Mr. Lukas visits, but it’s different. I think someone else is in there. I– Oh my god!”
“Rosie?”
Rosie’s voice was no longer as clear on the receiver, and Elias assumed she had made the fatal mistake of walking into the mist. A shame. She was so wonderful at her job and it was so hard to find someone perfectly suited to her position.
“Sir? Sir, are you alright?”
Ah. It seems she was alive. Elias stopped making plans for a new hire.
“Where am I?”
Elias was about to hang up the phone and froze when he heard the voice. It certainly wasn’t Peter’s. He paused, standing in place and trying to see into the lobby. But all that damned fog! He could just barely focus on Rosie, as she was one of his own.
The more he tried to see, the deeper the headache became.
“I’ll be right down,” he said before slamming the phone onto the receiver. He knew she didn’t hear him. But it was the motions. Pushing through the routine of what a concerned boss should actually be doing. It helped him focus.
If it wasn’t Peter strolling into his institute through the Lonely, then who was it? The rest of the Lukas family kept their distance. Especially after their third wedding. Another servant of Forsaken? Outside of the prime family, Elias doesn’t keep tabs. Maybe a victim..
Elias stepped into the lobby, hearing Rosie’s heels click against the floor as she paced and flitted around the person still heaped on the ground. His own footsteps came to a halt once the fog cleared out.
And then he took a step back.
It was a victim.
“Barnabas Bennett.”
The man- Barnabas looked up when his name was said.
“Y-yes? My apologies, do I know you?” His voice was so soft and ragged. Like a worn out record.
If it were not for his attire, nothing would seem amiss. He was just a man. A man that hadn’t aged a day since he was taken.
Elias took a slow breath. “No. No, you don’t. I know of you. Your friendship to our founder has been carefully documented.” Friendship. “My good sir, do you remember what happened last?”
He needed information. He needed to make sure this was real. Would the Stranger work with the Lonely like this? He was sure those cheap dolls couldn’t survive the fog.
Barnabas seemed even more confused at being known, yet not knowing in return. He had finally gotten to his feet, with the help of Rosie, and was looking around him. His eyes lingered on the decorative carvings on the ceiling.
“Your founder- Is this The Magnus Institute?” Barnabas seemed amazed. Of all the places he could walk to, it was here? Where was here? How did he get here? It didn’t look right. “I had just written to Jonah. What was it.. I don’t remember how long ago. Not too long, I should say.”
But it had been too long.
Elias stared at the man he thought to be Barnabas Bennett for a long while. Watching him marvel at the architecture of the building. Taking in all the little details he didn’t notice at first, now that the shock had settled into his bones.
Elias saw grey starting to pepper his hair, or maybe it was the fluorescent lighting above that brought out what was already there. His blue wool coat was damp and his skin looked more sickly than before. Thread was unraveling at the hems and Elias was sure there was salt crusted onto his boots.
“I need to check on something. Please, Mr. Bennett, take a seat right here,” said Elias as he guided the man towards the chairs by the wall. He was careful not to get too close, not to touch him. As if he was afraid his hand would go right through him.
“Ms. Zampano?”
“Sir?” Rosie had taken several steps back during this entire engagement, her phone out as if unsure to call the paramedics or not. This was not the most dangerous situation she had seen in her tenure.
“If I could trouble you. Please make Mr. Bennet a cup of tea. Strong, three sugars.” And with that, Elias was walking very quickly out of the lobby.
The eyes on the columns beside the chairs told him that Barnabas was confused to how a total stranger knew how he took his tea.
But Elias didn’t have the time to revel in that. He didn’t even realize he still remembered that insignificant detail of a man long dead. No. Right now he needed to get into his office and check if they were still there.
If one knows where to look, they will find the bones of a man in Elias’s office. Elias went to them quickly, behind the fake panel in a bookshelf. There it was. The skull stared back at him with empty sockets and he had to stop himself from touching the bone. He couldn’t risk damaging them.
They were here. And Barnabas was down there.
It didn’t make sense.
Elias- Jonah, as he now thought of himself as Elias less and less with his dearest friend downstairs, had his bones. He went to Mordecai himself to get them. He took them and he hid them away so that only he would remember him. That his family would not be able to mourn.
No one walked out of the Lonely. It didn’t work like that.
He was careful to put the panel back into place, and then the knickknacks that went in front. There. Everything where it belonged.
Except for Barnabas.
By the time Elias made his way back downstairs, Rosie had also appeared with the cup of tea. Before she could put it into Barnabas’s outreached hand, Elias snatched it from hers. Never spilling a drop.
“Perfect timing. Mr. Bennett, if you will come upstairs with me to my office. We can have a private discussion,” he glanced over to Rosie. She looked a little miffed. “Ms. Zampano, if you would, please clear out all my meetings this afternoon.”
“But, sir, you have an appointment with-”
“Clear it.”
“Yes, sir.”
The discussion was squashed and Elias once more motioned for Barnabas to follow him. “This way, before your tea gets cold.”
And despite the weary burn in his legs, Barnabas followed him. Up the stairs towards an office settled right in the middle of the building. A few questions are asked about the lights, and Elias calmly explains they are electric. Another question of how appropriate Rosie’s skirt was. That was ignored. The confusion was still building. A door was held open for him and closed when both men had walked inside. Once more, Barnabas was told to sit down and he was finally allowed that cup of tea. He took a grateful sip.
It was almost perfect.
Elias leaned back against his desk and saw the man’s eyes carefully taking stock of the office around them. How his eyes lit up at recognition of certain items. The layout. Before finally landing on the large portrait behind his desk.
The portrait of Jonah Magnus.
Barnabas is staring at it, for a rather long time. The grip on his teacup tightens and for a moment Elias thinks it might shatter.
Best rip the bandage off.
“It is the year 2017, Barnabas.”
The porcelain cracked.