Chapter 15
“Are you sure you have everything? Is Helen still down for all of this? Please don't annoy them to the point of them leaving you in America” Martin fussed while triple checking that Jon had everything he needed.
He would only be gone at most a few days and at least a few hours but the two had spent so long together of course he would be worried to be separated from the other.
“I promise you I’ll be fine”Jon chuckled holding onto Martin’s wrists to prevent him from fidgeting, “The Hunt may be a pretty severe entity but I can handle them this time around, with Helen we might be able to avoid them a bit. I can also be pretty sneaky when I put my mind to it.
Martin smiled, “Okay, But if you do come back injured i am giving you an earful”
“Are those two always so lovey dovey?” Michael asked with a nervous smile.
“Oh totally! Archive power, couple smooching around every corner” Tim teased.
“Hey!” The two yelled in unison while Sasha nudged him in the stomach and he held it for a moment in pain.
“It’s kinda cute” Michael thought for a second, “In a sort of finding love in the most unexpected place kinda way?”
“Ah yes The Magnus Institute, Allowing the beginning of eldritch relationships. We stan” Sasha laughed.
The moment was refreshing to say the least, It was like the calm before the storm. He’d need something good before the amount of chaos he was going to experience. It had taken a little time to convince Helen to help them but in the end they agreed to the idea of creating more trouble and chaos for the eye. Jon loved the idea as well however was a little less enthusiastic at that point.
“Are you ready?” Martin asked with a hint of worry in his voice.
He sighed, “Ready as I’ll ever be”
Jon let go of Martin’s embrace, rubbing his thumb over his hand before approaching the classic office door and knocking a few times. Soon the doors colour began to shift to a yellow hue before it opened.
There stood Helen, Beach outfit and all. Honestly Jon shouldn’t have expected anything else, this was a being of lies and full craziness. As soon as he mentioned America he should’ve assumed they would take this as an idea for a holiday. Their shorts a chroma-flair material (somehow), and their Hawaiian shirt a shifting array of bring, neon colours. They held a pair of heart sunglasses with a smile bigger than the one they usually have.
“Ready for our trip Archivist?” They sounded excited, almost everything they said always sounded, in a way, fun. No matter how bizarre it may have seemed in the moment.
Jon sighed “Yep, whenever you are”, He couldn’t be asked to be defensive and scared of them anymore. This was bigger than last time and he needed to get over his shit.
“Ah! Finally accepting this partnership” They pretended to wipe away a tear, “I am so, so proud”.
Jon smiled a little.
“Do you remember how this works?” Helen’s previous outgoing attitude had fallen a little more serious now.
“I believe so, Envision where I want to go and find the way from there?” He thought.
“Correct! Better you’re no longer Godly because i don’t know how we would’ve gotten this amazing bonding experience” They cheered.
“See you all on the flip side i guess?” Jon shrugged nervously before setting through the doorway, he heard the creak of the door close and saw Helen begin to walk forward.
“So Archivist, show us the way” A smile as they stood slightly out of his way.
He sighed before taking a deep breath, Where was Gerry? Well, he did know that already but also he didn’t. He knew he was with Julia and Trevor, where they were at this moment he could know but he also needed to make sure the two weren’t moving. He needed to know the direct location and he needed a memory to link the two. Lucky for him the two hadn’t moved at all from the last time line and so the connection they had made remained. This is where he found him, where they bonded, where he was told to call him Gerry. So he began walking.
The calling always felt weird, it was like someone had tied a string around his wrist and was pulling him along. Now Jon was no toddler but it sure felt that was with this connection pulling him along. If you hadn’t known about Jon’s knowing than to an average person he looked as if he had lost it was making unconsidered movements but in that case that wasn’t it.
He was relieved that Helen had decided to stay silent for most of this trip, he would’ve thought they weren't there if it wasn't for the extra sound of footsteps that followed him through the halls. It didn’t take long for Jon to be led right in front of a door, this one partially yellow with some black and red blended in.
“This door is different from some of your others” Jon observes aloud.
“Technically it isn’t my door per say, it’s the door you need. I can manipulate the places they go to an extent but you found this one all by yourself and your connection to it is what makes it how it is” Helen informed.
“That’s...actually quite interesting,” He admitted.
“Oh Archivist! I knew this trip would be an amazing bonding experience” They smiled, “Now you can just head on back through there, just knock when you want to come back”
With the small push he was given he reached for the handle and twisted it, pushing it open revealed a room he foggily remembered, only that was a lie. That was something he would’ve thought without these powers but he knows now that he can remember this place down to the exact placement of each floorboard. The place still had that dusty yet dangerous look to it and if he hadn’t a job to do he would’ve left immediately.
As soon as he left the threshold the door closed with a soft click and when he turned to check all that remained was a wall, ‘just knock’ he reminded himself as he once again opened his mind. Where would they have hidden him? He was drawn to a chest covered by a dusty rug with the ugliest pattern on it.
Pulling off the rug as quietly as he could the chest that sat in front of him was chained and padlocked. It obviously would've been more suspicious if the rug hadn't been covering this highly secured chest and so Jon got to work. Usually he could just look into one of the two’s minds but that was both stupid becauase he couldn’t see them at this moment to read them and stupid because that would’ve just alerted the two.
So with the new skill Sasha had taught him he pulled one of the hair grips and began to move around the lock to pick it, pulling out a second hair grip he helped his progress before he felt an opening and pushed the grip in. With a click the lock opened and Jon thought about how much he was going to thank Sasha with her wisdom because as she put it ‘Fuck those cops and the government’.
As quietly as he could he removed the chains covering this chest and placed them quietly on the ground. He then felt a shiver run down his spine, someone was coming, well more like two people were coming, he knew he had to hurry but he had no time to be quiet anymore. So being the idiot he was, as Tim so kindly put it, he threw open the chest and shuffled around till he found what he was looking for, the copy of ‘Catalogue of the Trapped Dead’.
As he grabbed the book that had been wrapped in an old cloth and turned the door had slammed open. In it’s threshold stood the two angered faces of his old friends Julia and Trevor.
“What are you doing” She spoke with a venom in her voice.
Jon backed up to the wall as spoke and knocked as he spoke, “Just come to get something back”
It was that which made Julia divert her gaze to the object in which Jon had retrieved.
“Over my dead body” With that she lunged.
Jon wasn’t the fighting type and so he jumped out of the way just in time to avoid her, this took him into the vicinity of Trevor who looked to be reaching for something inside of his coat pocket. Shit.
Analysing his options cover seemed to be a sensible one until he could get out of the mess and so he dove behind some of the junk that had built up around the edges of the room.
Julia let out a frustrated noise as she signalled to Trevor to help her retrieve the book and kill Jon with no hesitation.
Jon knew the way out, he just needed to wait for the perfect moment, and so when the two had got the closest they could in the space Jon decided to rush Trevor. Probably a dumb thought at the time but he preferred the wrath of the homeless man more than the anger of a serial killers daughter.
It took the man by shock and knocked him down, he noticed the familiar yellow door appear and made his dash, all the thoughts he had on Julia had let his guard down and as Helen opened the door to let him in he felt a sharp pain skim past the side of his face. The door shut quickly behind him and he knew he was fine when there was no rattling of a door handle or knocking.
“Perfect timing” He gabbled, the book clenched around his stomach in defence.
“I do pride myself on being punctual! Is that what you needed?” Helen looked to the book.
“Ah yes, someone we need is in here. Do you mind if i?” It would at least be nice to ask while he’s in their corridors?
“Go ahead! A new friend for a little old me and I also don't think you’re in the state to lead us back” That was a good point, he still had adrenaline coursing through him and didn’t want to risk turning up somewhere else.
So he began to recite the page, one he was all so familiar with, his last memories of life and how he refused to call the woman who had hurt him.
“And so Gerard Keay ended” As he spoke those words the man who he had met appeared before him, same poorly dyed hair but same gothic aesthetic.
“You’re new, did you kill them?” He asked, looking at his chipped black nails as if he was analysing them.
“Not exactly” Jon placed the book in the backpack he forgot he was wearing.
“They tell you about their monster book and you just had to get your hands on it, Hugh?” He was annoyed and honestly Jon could understand, being used as a source of information by others must’ve been annoying.
“Oh no! You don't have to worry about me using you like that. I quite literally know everything about anything” Jon stopped for a second, “No offence”.
“So what was the point in your little kidnapping trip? I can only assume you must be something to do with the entities, they eye?” Gerard was now trying to avoid as much contact with Jon as possible while walking by his side.
“I’m the new head Archivist, i got tricked pretty bad” Jon chuckled a little, this seemed to ease Gerard a little.
“Ah so she died then, how did she go?” He asked.
“Shot in an archive conspiracy, I can assure you it was bad-ass though” Gerard smirked at that.
“That’s how she would’ve wanted to go” Then he finally turned to Jon, “If she’s gone then why do you need me?”
“It’s a weird story, I've got a long and short version of the story but to sum things up” Jon took a breath, the adrenaline starting to wear off, “I’m from the future and without the help from some others the world is going to end under the ceaseless watcher. Kinda wanted to prevent that”
“And what can i possibly do to help you there? Kinda dead here” He floated a little off the ground to further prove his point.
“Well yes but you did work in the archive for a while, i don't want to see we need you for information but no-one should have to be alone. Plus things have changed in the timeline that provoke me to act quickly” Jon admitted.
“Ah so time travel and stuff, is that how you knew how to find me?”
“I mean, technically me finding you was partly an accident but this time i made sure that we could get you” Jon said determined, “Now we’ve got you, things will be okay”.
“Kinda sweet you wanted to save an already dead guy, the thought counts and all, but you are so different to what i expected for a new Archivist at the Magnus Institute” He teased.
“Well I learned that being an ass gets you nowhere at the least and kidnapped a few times at the most” Jon’s shoulders slumped in exhaustion.
“Not what you signed on the contract?”
“Not in the slightest” The two chuckled.
“So we are heading back to the institute? I’m guessing we’re in something with an entity?”
“Yes and The Spiral, we’re kind of partial allies?”
With that Helen appeared behind the two and they jumped a little, “I heard my own mention and had to make myself known! Pleasure to meet you, Helen! These are my hallways” She then continued in front of them.
“They seem cheery” Gerard raised an eyebrow.
“Prefer a cheery avatar to a murderous one” Jon joked.
“We’re almost there lads, Get ready for home!” Helen sang.
“Oh, i never got your name ‘Head Archivist’”
“Jon”
“Nice to meet you Jon and I'd preferred if you called me Gerry, you’ve got a little-” He didn’t finish as he pointed to Jon’s cheek.
Jon reached a hand up to feel a wet substance, he looked to his hand to confirm his suspicion.
“Oh Martin’s gonna kill me” Jon remarked.
The door in front of them swung open to reveal the assistants sitting around in their waiting. They looked to be having a light hearted debate when they turned towards the newly opened door.
Every one rose to their feet.