Chapter Text
Jon didn’t really know what Elias wanted him for right now, this dreary Wednesday morning. He had called Jon up to his office, needing to discuss “urgent matters.” Jon thought it was going to be bullshit, but Elias was his boss, and Jon really didn’t want to lose his job. He raised his hand to knock, tensing slightly as he did, as he always did.
“Jonathan. Come in please,” Elias called from the other side of his office door before Jon could knock. He shuddered. How did Elias always do that, calling people in when he couldn’t even see them?
(But he can), a little voice said in the back of his mind. That same little voice he heard every time he had to meet with Elias, that same little voice that had existed since Mr. Spider, whispering secrets he never remembered. Jon hesitated on the doorknob.
He opened the door, that voice in his head forgotten like normal. “Elias. Good morning.”
“Ah, Jon, good morning. How are you doing today?” Elias asked, a smile plastered on his face that made Jon uneasy for some reason.
“I’m good, thank you. Why have you called me here?” Jon asked, his tone more than a little annoyed.
Elias didn’t mention it. “Right. Well, you recall how Gertrude Robinson, our previous Head Archivist, has recently gone missing?”
Jon nodded stiffly. “Of course.” He remembered it very clearly. The moment that her disappearance became public, Jon had felt the oddest feeling of foreboding overcome him.
Elias put his hands on the desk. “I want to offer you the position. I trust in your ability to run the department well. Possibly, even better than Gertrude.”
Jon sat in shock. Him? Head Archivist? “I- I- I don’t know what to say.”
Elias nodded and slid a document towards him. “Understandable. Now, this is your new employment contract. I have seen your work, Jon, and I think there is no one more suited to this position.”
Jon’s mind spun. (No. No. Don’t sign that). He was just sitting there, frozen. Then, the smallest of words. “No.”
Elias frowned. “What?”
Jon sat up straighter. “I said no. I’m not the most qualified for this position. I don’t even have a library sciences degree! I don’t know how archiving works. And there is someone who can do all those things.”
Elias blinked at him with those cold, steely gray eyes. “Oh? Tell me, Jon, who is more qualified for this position?”
Jon smiled slightly. “Sasha James. She has a library sciences degree, and she has the most experience with the Archives. Plus, she worked in Artifact Storage for a while, which is even more experience on her part. She’d be the best fit for the role, no doubt,” Jon explained.
Elias stared at him. “I have already considered Sasha for this position, and have deemed her not enough. Now, your contract…” he said, sounding something other than monotone for the first time this conversation. The skin on the back of Jon’s neck prickled, and somewhere, somehow, he felt watched. It was a deeply uncomfortable and unpleasant sensation,
Jon stood abruptly, slamming his palms on Elias’s mahogany desk, that feeling never abating. “No. I do not want this position. Find someone else,” he hissed angrily before storming out of the office, the haze in his mind clouding everything else. For a moment, Jon thought he saw utter rage in Elias’s eyes. The moment passed, and those cool eyes were staring at him again. He stalked back to his desk in Research, not even noticing Rosie staring at him weirdly from her desk, before the fog cleared, and a wave of utter dread hit him.
“Jon! What did Elias want?” Sasha, the woman herself, walked up to his desk the moment she saw his return.
Jon stared straight ahead before dropping his head in his hands. “I think I’m going to be fired,” he groaned softly as what he had said and done in that meeting hit him.
“Whoa, Jon. What happened?” Sasha fretted.
“I’ll tell you on Friday, if I’m still here,” Jon said, overcome with dread. Sasha frowned but said nothing.
Rosie popped her head into the room. “Sasha? Mr. Bouchard is ready for you.” Jon raised his head to look at her.
Sasha smiled at her. “Thanks, Rosie. Let him know that I’ll be right up.”
Rosie nodded. “Will do.” She left, scurrying out of the room.
Jon frowned. “Why are you meeting with Elias?” he asked.
Sasha grinned cheekily. “I’ll tell you on Friday, because you’re still going to be here.” And with that, before Jon could respond, Sasha swept away and out of the room. Jon stared for a minute before dropping his head back into his hands with a resigned groan.
/^\*/^\*/^\*/^\
Jon was tense for the entirety of the next two days. He checked his email constantly, expecting a meeting with Elias about his upcoming termination to be dropped into the standard workplace fare. But nothing came. Jon didn’t relax, though. He didn’t trust that nothing was going to happen to him, that no consequences would be administered, that his job was safe (that he was safe). So, at the weekly pub night that he, Tim, and Sasha had as tradition where Jon never actually drank anything, he was still feeling that unease.
Tim smiled at Sasha. “So. Sash. I heard you had news. Spill it,” he said with a teasing edge.
Sasha grinned and swept her arms wide. “Guess who’s your next Head Archivist?”
Jon gaped. “You’re the new Head Archivist?”
Sasha pulled her arms back, a hurt expression crossing her face. “No need to sound so disbelieving, Jon.”
Tim backed her up. “Yeah, mate, what’s that about? I thought you would have been happy for her,” he said, crossing his arms with a judgmental look on his face.
Jon realized what had happened and tried to backtrack. “N– no! That’s not what I mean! It’s just– Sasha, remember what happened on Wednesday?”
Sasha nodded. “Yeah? That whole thing where you thought that you were going to get fired? What about it?”
Jon sighed. “I– I had just gotten out of a meeting with Elias. He… he asked me to be the Head Archivist? I think? It didn’t seem much like he was asking, though. He was weirdly insistent that I take the job.”
Tim and Sasha stared at him. Tim spoke. “So… why didn’t you take it?” he asked.
Jon stared back. “Because I’m not an idiot! I’m nowhere near qualified enough for that! Sasha is! I told Elias just as much! Well… maybe a little more than just told him,” Jon admitted sheepishly.
Tim perked up, misunderstanding forgotten. “Okay Jon, what did you do?” he asked jokingly.
“I… may have yelled at him,” Jon admitted once more. “But! To be fair, he always did give me an odd feeling. Plus, he was being a sexist bastard.” He thought of that irrational anger and panic that always surfaced when talking to Elias.
Tim’s face lit up. “No way. You yelled at him?” He laughed. “No wonder you thought you were going to be fired!”
Jon’s face broke into a soft grin. “Seems not so weird anymore, right Sasha?”
Sasha smiled at him. “Right,” she echoed. Then she spoke again, with an uncharacteristic hesitation, “I… I wanted to ask you guys something.”
“What is it, Sash?” Tim asked, a questioning expression flitting over his face.
“Elias said that I can get up to three assistants to help me in the Archives. Do- do you two want to come with me?”
Jon and Tim stared. Then Tim’s smile stretched wider. “Of course, Sash! I’d love to come, and I’m sure that Jon agrees wholeheartedly with my genius decision.” Jon smiled at Tim’s teasing. “Remember Sash, where you go in the Institute, we go, alright?”
A strange pang touched Jon’s heart at those words, like they stirred some unknown, incomprehensible emotion inside him. Sasha smiled. “Thanks, guys. Well, I guess we start in the Archives on Monday, then, right?”
“Yup!” Tim grinned. The night finished quickly after that. But Jon still felt the remnants of that emotion wriggling through his heart.
(That’s the deal).
/^\*/^\*/^\*/^\
It was the first day in the Archives. Monday. Jon hadn’t slept much over the weekend, the unease and tension roiling in his stomach keeping him awake. He was walking with Tim and Sasha to the Archives, all of them having got in at similar times and having cleared out their desks together.
Jon had never actually been in the Archives before. That feeling was always more pronounced whenever he was near there. Anytime he had to go there to get something for Research, he asked someone else to do it so he wouldn’t have to deal with that feeling. Eventually, people stopped asking him to go down to the Archives at all.
Tim and Sasha’s conversation flowed around Jon, but he wasn’t really paying attention. There was something nagging at him that he couldn’t name, couldn’t remember. The walk down to the Archives was a blur in his mind. That feeling of unease, of foreboding, that had cropped up after Gertrude’s disappearance was growing stronger and stronger.
There was someone standing outside the door to the Archives. They seemed vaguely familiar, but Jon’s buzzing mind couldn’t place why (love). Sasha walked up to them and introduced herself, and they started chatting. Tim jumped into the conversation. Jon just stared blankly, his thoughts swirling round and round his head. Sasha opened the door with her new keys, and the three (four) of them stepped inside.
The moment he crossed the threshold of the Archives, that uneasiness exploded within Jon. He froze as memories that weren’t his but also were flooded his brain and body and then dissipated like smoke in the breeze. But the pain remained as skin and flesh and bone tore and bubbled and broke. Jon heard voices screaming faintly, as if he was drowning in the ocean and they were on land. Maybe he was.
And the world went white with pain.