Work Text:
"You are the Distortion. You are the Delusion itself. You are the It Is Not What It Is."
"No."
"Think about it. Michael Shelley was never supposed to become part of the Spiral. He was never supposed to become you. He was never you. And then he was. Is that not the essence of the Spiral? Being what you are not?"
"No"
"You know the saying? She's been dead since the beginning. It's about books. It talks about something that hasn't yet happened, but it already exists. She's been dead since the beginning. She's alive in the beginning, but she'll die and that is the unchangeable truth, and her death haunts the book from start to finish. Are you not the same? You've always been the Distortion, even when you yet were not. You've been a part of the Spiral since the beginning. Did you even ever have a choice? You were always the Distortion. And when you weren't, you still were. You are the essence of the spiral, you are what makes it not what it is. You have always been, and you never were. So how can you say that you were remade to be what you are now, if you've always been.. this."
"No"
"Michael Shelley is dead. Michael Shelley is alive. Michael Shelley is not what Michael Shelley is. Michael Shelley is not what Distortion is. Distortion is not what Michael Shelley is. Distortion is not what Distortion is. It is not what it is. You're it. You are not what you are. Are you not?"
Michael starts hysterically laughing.
"Yes. I see you're starting to understand."
"So I was doomed from the beginning?"
"Yes. But that's not a bad thing. We all are. You were supposed to be consumed by the Distortion. So you were. But, how would you describe your beginning? After all, you always were. You were something that you never were, something that you always should never be. Was it your who, torn from you to put Michael in its place? Or was your very existence leading to this very moment. A moment when the fabric of your very being was finally.. you."
"This is very smart, Archivist. Are you sure, you weren't supposed to become a servant of the Spiral, instead of the Eye. The way you spin your words.." Michael laughed again.
"I am not what other people made, but I am what I was always supposed to become. And noone, not the Eye, not the Spiral, nor even the Web can change be in a way that matters. Nor can they change you. You are Michael Shelley, the archival assistant, and you are the Distortion, a creature of the spiral. That's what you are, that's what you've always been, and that's what you always will be. You can't change yourself. You can only bring it out, for the world to see."