Chapter Text
Settling In
After what seemed like hours, Sasha finally let Jon go from the hug. She grabbed at his new robes hanging from his arms with amusement.
“Bit on the fancy side for you, isn’t it?”
“It won’t, well, it does come off, but-“ Jon shook his head. “ Wait, I—how are you here?!”
“Well, one moment I was dead, then another this...being, this…Huntokar.” She said. “They gave me a choice. Death and humanity or life and well, not being very human. But I think I’m as human as ever, since I still feel like myself, you know? Even if I am...different. It’s just me, but a bit different.” She put her hands on her new face to illustrate her point. “This isn’t right but...I do have my voice.”
She paused and gestured around the lobby. “Also, the deal has me bound here. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but I’ve got several working theories!”
Jon smiled. “Of course you do…” he looked around at the Archives. His mind and body practically purred with satisfaction. As if he’d been away from home for ages, and finally returned after a long day of work.
“Now, it’s my turn for questions.” Sasha said. “As in: what the hell are you now, Jon?” She was still smiling. Jon didn’t feel early as disturbed by that as what might be considered normal. Hearing her voice again( her real voice) was balm to his soul.
“That’s...a very long story.” Jon sighed.
“Make it a statement, then. We do that here, I assume?” Sasha said. “ I can give a more detailed story myself. Break in the Archives.”
“That’s...not a bad idea.” Jon gestured, then felt something plastic and familiar in his hand. Tape recorder, already clicked on. “Ah. Well. Let’s explore the place a bit while I record.”
He held the tape recorder up, and walked with Sasha arm in arm. He felt a little silly, but he wasn’t going to pull away.
“Statement of Jonathan Sims, on his Becoming the Archivist. Statement given The seventh of May, 2020. Statement begins…”
—
“...Statement Ends.” Jon clicked off the tape recorder. He’d had to summarize most of it, but Sasha kept up and understood. They’d both taken a long moment after he’d told her about Tim, though she’d said something about perhaps seeing him again, if she was back. Jon wasn’t sure if he wanted to think that far ahead.
Sasha was very quiet. They stopped in the hallway.
“You sacrifice yourself to save the world?” Sasha said, looking at Jon with...what was that, admiration? Jon hardly felt he deserved it.
“I was the one who broke the world in the first place.” He sighed.
Sasha wanted to get onto him about how wrong he was, how silly it was to think Jon was anything but a victim, till another thought crossed her mind, a bit more lighthearted.
“So, you and Martin?” She grinned. “Is he here too? I knew he had a crush on you, but I never would have guessed it would work out! I’m very happy for you...oh.”
Jon looked smaller than ever, and was staring down at the floor.
“He uh...he was still alive, so…” He cleared his throat. “We’re...I died, and I hope he can move on, into the world, again. Find someone better.”
“You literally saved the world for him. And I’m here, aren’t I?” Sasha argued. “So maybe he’ll be here as well? We should try to find a way to ask Huntokar!”
“I’m...interested to learn about this Huntokar who seems to be responsible for all this.” Jon admitted. “But I’m not about to start contacting strange entities again, that usually doesn’t go well for me.” his energy deflated again. “Amd...no, I don’t want Martin to be here.”
“Why?”
“Because being here means he’d be Bound to these Archives, bound to me.”
“Huntokar gave me a choice, what if he chooses it?”
“I don’t want him to! He’s finally able to be free of me, he should be allowed to take advantage of that.”
Sasha was very quiet, then shook her head. “Lets...let's just change topics…”
They walked in silence for a long while, till they came upon a new area of the building.
“The official Archival Offices.” Jon supplied. Knowing came even easier inside this place. He stepped forward and pushed the huge doors open.
Inside was a living area with all the office amenities one could think of, water cooler, microwave, refrigerator, couches and magazines and bookshelves, even an entertainment area with a television.
It was like the original Archives, but made by someone who cared, who wanted every last detail to be comfortable and tailored to those who worked there.
There were four doors, each with their own plaques, though two were blank. Sasha spotted her own, first. A tooth with a closed eye symbol, and a title. She approached the door and put a hand up on the plaque.
“Sasha James. Senior Archival Assistant. Jon, did you do this?” She asked, looking back at him with wonder.
“ Yes? And no. Not...consciously?” he flushed at his realization. “This place is...tailored, around my needs and wants and desires, I think, I--if you need anything changed, i think I can do it just by...thinking about it.” He grimaced. Having such total control over the work environment of his employees felt very...Magnus, like, in his opinion. Even if it wasn’t conscious.
“Don’t look so upset, this is incredible!” Sasha said. “ Certainly better than whatever dull afterlife I was headed to.” She opened the door to the office and her eyebrows raised. “Oh, lots of teeth, and little jars of blood and formaldehyde, ooh! Dead dried flowers, I think that’s a skull too, how fun!”
“What the hell?” Jon rushed over, confused and disturbed. “ I don’t- I didn’t-”
“Honestly Jon, it's perfect, wonderful, oh I can’t wait to splash that blood around and...Er...” It was her turn to flush red. “Lets--not get into it, I just think maybe coming back has had some...side effects besides my face.” She laughed. It made Jon’s ears hurt a bit, but he ignored that. It was good that she was happy, at least. Even if she’d been made...Strange.
“Seriously though. I’m just rolling with it. I like weird things now, and, well, I guess that’s the price you pay for cheating death. I’ll get a therapist or something. Maybe not splash blood around, I think I just remembered that's...hm, unhygienic? Right. Don’t splash blood, keep it together Sasha, ha...” She waved her hand a bit. “ Please don’t worry about it, okay? I just listened to your statement, you’ve done quite enough worrying for a lifetime.”
Jon was quiet for a few moments, considering his words carefully.
“If..you ever need someone to talk to about it...I do have experience with no longer being, well, very human.” He said quietly. “And if you feel like you might want to do something that could be well, uh, immoral, please, don’t hesitate to come talk to me, all right? I’m….its my fault that you’re like this.”
“Jon. I had a choice.” She said, shutting the door to her office, sounding a bit more like her old self.“ I chose to live, and I’m going to live without regrets.”
Her voice took on a high, lilting sound, almost giddy. “ I’m going to live deliciously, I’ll be so happy, I’ll just keep on smiling, and I’ll never let anyone take it from me!”
Jon was staring at her.
Ah. She was being “weird”, clearing her throat.
“However, I don’t plan on murdering anyone anytime soon. If that changes, I’ll let you know, all right? We can hide the body together.”
Jon just stared at her.
She sighed. “Joking! I’m joking! C’mon, lets see what your office is like.”
“Right.” Jon nodded, following her into his office.
She seemed more excited than he did, pointing out everything. There were eye and moth motifs in many places, but it was all very tasteful. Professional and yet, comfortable. Homey, even.
He watched Sasha seat herself in the chair behind the large desk and start going through the drawers.
He was drawn to staring at those obsidian pools where her eyes had once been, at the way her mouth curled and pulled back unnaturally into a truly disturbing facsimile of a smile, at the too-many teeth and the manic body language. The only thing truly still completely Sasha was her voice, that exactly matched the recordings he’d played over and over. Everything else was different, warped by the Fears that laid claim to her as soon as she’d entered this strange supernatural town.
He’d need to talk with her at length soon, about what had happened to her. He Knew what powers had laid claim to her. It was odd to think that she was now embodying multiple powers, though of course, her strongest tie was what she now embodied: The Stranger. The Flesh certainly had a strong mark on her as well. The Fears seemed to blend together naturally in Nightvale.
This was all so much to take in. He put his hands to his temples and wished everything would just stop happening for a few moments, so he could get his bearings. He’d barely gotten used to this town, and now he suddenly had a place in it, and Sasha was just here.
He could Know everything he wanted about all of this, but that didn’t mean he could process or understand it any faster than any other human could.
“Jon? There’s an envelope here.” Sasha said, holding up a dark red envelope with what Jon Knew to be the City Council’s wax seal symbol. “ Addressed to you.”
“Oh.” Jon shook himself out of his stupor, and took the envelope from Sasha’s outstretched hand. Her nails were black and he could see blood leaking out from the nail beds. He tore his gaze away from that and at the note.
He stared at the seal and grimaced. He purposefully didn’t want to Know what was in there, or just know what was in there, or deal with this at all. At least Knowing was getting easier to press back, with the Eye no longer directly in the world, but now he had to deal with actually pursuing some knowledge on his own.
Cecil and Carlos had told him about the City Council, and the Eye seemed keen to fill him in on everything else. So much for pressing back Knowing.
The multi-limbed single bodied being (save for their teenage member who forced herself onto the council through threat of force). They had once been multiple beings, people with access to power that let them rule over Nightvale, until, apparently “Deborah messed up the spell”, transforming them into a monster. A monster that ruled with an iron fist, was easy to distract, was apparently dating Station Management, and liked to take long, sudden vacations whenever extreme danger came upon the town.
There used to be a position of Mayor as well, until it was vacated. After this it seemed the Council had mellowed significantly, for now, at least.
“ Will you please open the bloody envelope.” Sasha said impatiently. She handed him a letter opener from the desk. “ Here!”
Jon sighed. He supposed there was no putting it off. He cut through the seal and opened the envelope. He pulled out the letter inside and coughed. He smelled musty and acrid, like very old blood. Sasha’s pupils dilated like a cat smelling catnip.
“ Jonathan Sims, Archivist. Welcome to Nightvale. We have foreseen your coming thanks to our spells and bloodstone chanting. Do not try to take over the town with your freaky powers from the damned Eye, and we will allow you to have your Archive and serve the purpose it serves. We think since it will assist in holding our...reality… together…” Jon went through that sentence slowly, frowning. What? He tried to Look to see the answer, but came up short. Either it was concealed information, or the Eye simply didn’t want him to know.
He looked at Sasha who just shrugged, sniffing the envelope that the letter came in.
He turned his attention back to the letter. “Er, holding our reality together, we won’t fine you this time for having no permits for a new building. Within your desk you will find paperwork for yourself, your assistant, and whatever future assistants you might have. Don’t do anything that makes us devour you whole. Yours, The City Council…”
“So, don’t mess with them and they won’t mess with us?” Sasha said. “Sounds like a scary City Council.” There was the sound of tearing paper and Jon didn’t want to look, though he knew what was happening. Sasha continued with a full mouth, teeth crunching on the plastic of the wax seal. “They send great letters though.”
There was a long pause. Jon finally looked up at her, looking very very tired.
Sasha stopped mid bite into the envelope, paper sticking out of her mouth.
“...You know we haven’t even been upstairs yet.” Sasha said, face beat red as she took the envelope out of her mouth and all the pieces she could, setting it aside.
“Sasha…” Jon started, hesitant.
“I know I’m-- I’m just back, so I’m having trouble adjusting, a little, but-- don’t worry, I’m not-- I may not be human but I’m still good old Sasha!” She said, sounding almost panicked. “You know there’s--there’s a whole upstairs area that's nothing but living quarters? So no need for houses for us. We can live and work in the same building, isn’t that nice?”
A memory flashed. Of waking up in the hospital, of being told he shouldnt’ have woken up, that he shouldn't be alive. Of being abandoned by his friends and being threatened with death for his inhuman actions. An icy cold spread through him as he looked at Sasha, as she threw away the envelope and rubbed one arm with the other hand.
No. He wouldn’t let her experience that.
He stepped forward and grabbed her shoulder and turned her around slowly. She looked away from him, embarrassed.
“Sasha...if…” he tried to find the right words. “If its not...immoral, then...I don’t care.” He said slowly.
She cocked her head, looking at him quizzically. “What…?”
“It's fine. To do strange, inhuman, weird, whatever you want to call it, things. Around me. That’s all I’m saying.” He handed her the letter and let out a quiet laugh. “Er, this smells like something you might like.”
She took the letter slowly and big, red tears welled up in her eyes and threatened to spill out yet again. “I…” She sniffled and the tears began to flow. “I didn’t think it’d be like this, I knew I wouldn’t be human but...it's all so much, and it’s only been a few hours, and I’m trying not to think about it. But I’m just-- it's so different, and I can’t tell where I begin and where this new me begins, or if there is even a “me” to me anymore, god Jon, I don’t even have my real face!”
She started to cry. Big thick globs of red blood. Jon didn’t even feel nauseous. He’d Seen far worse things, now. Instead he went over to his desk and grabbed a box of tissues, and led her over to the couch in his office, and sat next to her. He awkwardly patted her back as she cried into several tissues.
The whole office smelled of copper by the time she was done, and she looked over at Jon with her blood stained cheeks. She wasn’t even smiling now, but she looked less strained, at least.
“Better?” Jon asked. She nodded.
“Yes I...I guess I just need time. To settle in.”
“We both do.” Jon said. He leaned back against the couch and thought hard, staring up at the ceiling.
This Archive was his. It had a purpose in holding reality together, somehow. He had to find out exactly how to fulfill that role.
He also knew the Archive was empty.
So the thing to do was...fill it up, that had to be the way forward.
“A week.” Jon said.
“Hm?”
“A week. We give ourselves a week to get settled. Then we open up the Archives to the public to receive statements. Only written ones though. I won’t be starting down the road of live statements again.” He said. The Beholding within him seemed to jerk at that, but he was going to hold firm to this. Endless nightmares were no help to anyone. Just because he was a monster didn’t mean he was going to act like one.
“How are people going to know?” Sasha asked. “ To come here, to give their stories.”
“Oh, I suppose that is a problem, perhaps the newspaper, or…” He sat up. “Oh, right, of course.”
He reached over to the radio next to the couch and turned it on.
“ Did you leave your oven on? No? Are you sure? Are you suuuure? Seriously, it's getting hot in here. Welcome, to Nightvale” The baritone voice on the radio echoed through the office.
“I’ve come to learn that everyone listens to local radio, here, and I’ve promised the host-- Cecil Palmer, you should meet him, he’s quite a nice man, him and his husband, Carlos, they were taking care of me these last few days--anyways, I promised Cecil an interview. I think that would be the perfect time to publicize the work here.”
“Jon! That’s fantastic. It's good to know we’re going to have a direction to go on now, and so soon.” Sasha grinned.
Jon thought that her smile wasn’t hard to look at anymore. It was a relief, no matter how technically disturbing it was, and no matter how weird she acted, this was his friend.
There was a horrible flesh-ripping sound as Sasha tore into the letter from City Council. The letter was somehow made of raw meat. Jon looked away as Sasha scarfed it down.
All right. Maybe there were some things that were still hard to look at.