Chapter Text
Paranoia had become Ellie's best friend, as of late.
He never should have gone to the stupid Magnus Institute. He didn't know how he knew, but he just knew that was where this all stated, four days ago.
He just wanted to get some extra sources for the paper he was working on. That was it. He went through the hoops, got the permissions, and then he went to the library within the institute and got out of there as soon as he had what he needed.
Really, it could have been anything that day that set this paranoia off. Someone had looked at him funny on the train that morning, a creepy guy tried to get his number just before lunch, he went to three other libraries and archives that day, but he just knew that the Magnus Institute had been the start of this.
Ellie limped into his favorite coffee shop, taking deep breaths of the caffeinated smells of the place. He really did not need to be hyped up on top of the paranoia, he knew that, but the thought of a coffee in his hand was more comforting than he wanted to admit.
He made his way to the counter, mumbled his order, paid, and sat down.
He felt the tension rising. The feeling of eyes watching him amplifying when he spotted each and every security camera in the shop, and the feeling did not settle even when he had his coffee in hand.
He managed to stay seated for two sips, trying to enjoy the ambiance. Trying to tell himself he wasn't doing anything wrong and didn't need to worry about people watching him when he finally gave up and nearly fled the building.
Ellie's apartment was loud and boisterous when he got there. He couldn't afford to live on his own, not in this economy, and certainly not while he was in college.
He sighed to himself, slipping past roommates who were joking and laughing and watching him pass by.
He gave a halfhearted wave, making for his room.
Of course, he wasn't alone in there, either. He had a room roommate too.
Zack was in there, working on homework and singing to himself as he played his music out loud.
Ellie hated that. He hated everything at the moment.
He turned, bag still in one hand and his coffee in the other. He entered one of the two bathrooms in the place and closed and locked the door.
After dropping his bag on the floor, he sat on the edge of the tub, cupping his coffee between both hands and taking deep breaths.
Ellie was familiar was panic attacks at this point. Of course he was. After everything he'd been through. Foster care, bullied through high school, attacked by some.... some creature.
He rubbed his aching leg, slowly removing the prosthetic. He put the coffee on the floor and leaned forward, face in his hands as he trembled.
He could still feel those eyes on him.
His breath caught in his throat, his heart beating wildly in his ears, louder and louder until he was choking back cries of terror and the certainty that he was dying.
The pressure of the eyes never went away, but they seemed to.... soften. As though they got what they wanted.
He lifted his head as someone knocked on the door.
"Oi! Stop hogging the bathroom!"
Ellie swallowed hard, his panic almost manageable now.
"Just a minute," he croaked.
He must have sounded truly terrible as his roommate said, "Oh, sorry, Ellie. Hey, take your time."
Ellie closed his eyes, tears tracking down his cheeks before he wiped them away and put his prosthetic back on, grabbing his bag and his cold coffee.
Fear was turning into anger.
He'd had a hard enough life as it was, thank you! Why in the world did the powers that be decide to give him this too?
He walked past Blaze, who attempted to speak to Ellie, but he was already downing his tepid coffee and making his way out of the apartment.
This started at the Magnus Institute, and it would end at the Magnus Institute!
...........................................
Ellie was back in the library where some other researchers and students were reading through the books on the supernatural the place stocked. Ellie didn't know what he was looking for. The receptionist hadn't been very helpful and just pointed him back to the library again.
The presence of being watched was stronger here, and it took everything in Ellie to keep from running.
He took two more deep breathes, and started trying doors.
Any door he could find.
Every single one of them was locked. All except one.
When the door to a set of stairs opened, Ellie felt a little like he was being swallowed alive while thousands of people watched in abject fascination.
He glanced up at the plaque by the door.
Archives
He stared down the stairs. He.... he couldn't go down there. He shouldn't. Nothing good would come out of it.
But.... he would know. And that would be so satisfying. He could know what got him in the dark just before his first year of collage. He could know why everything happened to him. He could know whatever his heart could ever want. The answers were down there.
He stood at the top of those stairs for a very long time.
It still felt like a too quick decision when he took his first step down.
His leg nearly gave out on the third step and he flailed for the railing, cursing at his homemade prosthetic. Then he apologized to it because he had been quite rude something he had put a lot of care and attention into making.
He had reached the bottom of the stairs when he realized he should have told someone where he was going.
He groaned, pulling out his phone to try and message his friend Violet.
No service.
He considered the stairs. He ought to go back up and send a message, but he wasn't certain his leg could make the trip up and down those stairs again, especially not after all of the errands he had run the day before.
He sighed, tucked his phone away, and hoped nothing bad would happen.
The archives were just that. Stacks and rows of folders and files and boxes of paperwork.
Ellie ran a hand over some of hem, and he swore he could feel a couple of them buzzing under his palm.
He found himself sitting, file in hand, reading.
It was a statement given by something that had been mauled in the dark. He had expected the words to set him off. Put him in another panic attack with his leg aching and spasming like he was having it chewed on again.
Instead..... instead it filled something inside of him. Put a piece of the puzzle where it belonged. He felt like he was meant to see this. Like the person who had come to make this statement had done so just so he could find it three years later and understand what happened to him.
He got to the end of the page. The last line almost scratched into the paper. "I am so scared."
There was a little post it note at the end, which seemed to be from one of the archivists who followed up on the story.
"Ms. Jasper's death was ruled as a bear attack. They found most of her body in her apartment."
Ellie stared at the note, his stomach swooping like he was on a roller coaster that wouldn't stop going around loops.
The feeling didn't fade until he heard a voice coming though the stack. He pushed himself to his feet, holding onto a shelf to stabilize himself as he hurriedly put the file back where he found it.
He couldn't get caught here. He needed to go back to the surface and sleep and maybe hang out with Violet and steady himself and-
A man turned the corner. He was tall and gangling, his curly blonde hair reaching his shoulders. He was dressed in fairly bright colors, including a brightly colored scarf. He seemed to have been talking to himself softly, but stopped when he spotted Ellie.
"Oh?" the blonde said brightly."Hello. Are you the new archival assistant Elias said would be coming?"
"Elias?" Ellie asked, confused and dazed.
"Yes, you know," the blonde said more uncertainly. "Elias Bouchard, head of the Magnus Institute. You are Elliot Figg, aren't you?"
"H-how did you-"
"Elias kind of talks a lot, sorry. I'm sure this is really weird."
Ellie said, "No, you don't understand, I didn't apply for a job here."
Michael gave Ellie a very friendly smile, one that sort of eased the tension in his bones somehow. "Elias's office is at the back of the stacks and up some stairs. I'll show you."
Ellie felt as though something was pulling him along behind Michael, even though it was his own legs taking him. He was still trembling when the got to the office door and Michael patted his shoulder. "It's alright. You don't have to say yes."
Ellie nodded as Michael knocked and poked his head into the office saying, "I found Mr. Figg, sir."
"Send him in."
Michael gave Ellie a thumbs up and turned around to get back to work.
Ellie stepped into the office and was faced with a.... well, Ellie would call him a twink. A dangerous one, at that.
Elias smiled at him and directed Ellie to a chair. "Sit, sit! I'm glad you made it."
"How did you know I was going to be here?"
Elias smiled. "The receptionist mentioned you were here and I had actually wanted to talk to you yesterday. I've heard a little about you from your teachers at the University and I have read some of the papers you submitted to blogs and journals here and there. I wanted to talk with you about offering you a job here."
Ellie frowned. "A... a job?"
"Oh, yes. And I can work around your schedule easily enough, I assure you."
"I... what kind of job?"
"Well, an archival assistant. I know you don't know much about archival science, but it's mostly odd jobs here and there, really. And the others can teach you anything you don't know."
Ellie felt off balance. "Um.... I have a disability-"
"Oh, I know. I will be sure we accommodate it," Elias assured him. He leaned forward, linking his fingers under his chin. "So, Mr. Figg. Or... would you prefer Elliot?"
"I go by Ellie."
"Ellie. I just want to ask one question before you make your decision. What is your greatest fear?"
Ellie started at Elias. He didn't know what was happening. He didn't have any answers. He needed answers.
"I......"
He tried to say something about spiders or getting caught on train tracks or something. But what came out was the truth he wasn't even aware of. "I'm terrified that I will never know enough to get anywhere. I'm terrified I will never amount to anything."
Elias smiled as though Ellie had give him a gift. "Well, then. I'm willing to do anything in my power to turn you into something really special. This I promise."
He held out his hand, and Ellie knew what it was. That hand was as good as a legally binding contract.
Ellie shook it anyway.
"Welcome to the Magnus Archives, Ellie," Elias said warmly. "Now, when would you like to start your first day?"