kayakking | (no subject)

[Jon's eyes settle on the both of them, before squeezing Martin's neck.]

Could... Before we go, could I just... Hold you both?

[It feels safe to ask here.]

Yeah..... Yeah of course.

[ He settles in against the two of them, wrapping an arm around both. His chin rests on Jon's shoulder. Squeezing his eyes shut, things could almost feel normal. Almost. ]

Oh, Jon.

[ Algric leans in too, wrapping cool arms around both Tim and Jon. Squeezing his eyes shut as he just breathes this in. ]

[Almost normal.

Jon gets both arms around them, squeezing weakly and resting his head between them both. Takes in a deep breath.

And as he lets it out, the ground falls from beneath Tim and Algric, back into darkness. Jon watches them fall until he's out of sight. And before long, they fall upward, out of the black tar and onto Elias' office floor, the shadows retreating back to Jonah, head back against the chair and eyes wide. Until it all travels back to his own shadows and his eyes clear. He doesn't dare speak yet, but a fury is building.]

[ As they are dropped onto the floor, there's an unearthly scene above. The walls seem waxy and foggy and vitreous and... all of these things and none. They shudder under the weight of what is coming, even as the last words die.

Elias himself is frozen in esctacy, watching from this near sight the birth of everything that will be. A horror untold in any human mind before, personal and yet massive. Welling up from the very collective grime humanity has cobbled together in their petty anxieties.

He can see the world quake and drinks it in, as the Eye opens around him, he begins to sink-

- and the retina tears.

The whole ritual shuddering as the door closes from the force of the Web catching. Even one----- even one missing....

In the mean time, Tim has only a moment in this horrifying sight to pick himself up. ]

Jon!

[ Algric -

Algric scrabbles to Jon's side, staring up in horror at the tableau around them. The door, the pupil, whatever the fuck is going on here-- ]

Jon - oh god -

[ A wild glance at Tim and then Elias. ]

-- We have to kill him!

[The Eye blinks, Jonah coming out of the dazed trance. The room returning to its expensive, gaudy look it had before. As Algric looks him over, the most immediate change is the faintest hint of burn scarring at the edges of his shirt-neck and sleeve. Jonah lowers his head to stare Elias dead on.]

Oh. Don't worry, we will.

[ The burns... where the cat was burned? Gods.

Tim swallows hard and turns that little devastation into heat.

The Eye blinks and Elias hits the ground, knees first and stays there. But his eyes are open, that pale grey blazing with power from the brush against his god. His voice is raw from both torment and the greatest joy he's ever known. ]

Will you now?

[ Algric makes the same connection a moment later - and immediately his gaze flickers to Jon's shoulder, to his legs. He HAS legs so that's - that's good at least?? He hopes they're still FUNCTIONAL.

They have to kill Jonah Magnus. They can't do it here, can they? Not without -

Not without ...

Before, Algric had been loathe to teleport them directly to the Panopticon. He wasn't quite strong enough, for starters, and he hadn't seen it recently enough to be sure he could get there. But. This time. The Lonely is closer than it's ever been, seeping into every crack of his being.

He pats Jon's shoulder gently and takes a step back. ]

Good thing I brought a knife.

[ And Algric vanishes. ]

[As soon as Algric is out of his site, Jon tightens his grip on the armrests before pushing himself up and lunges at Elias, arms out to grab him and tackle him down]

[ Jon slams into Elias' chest and they both go down. No gods, no boss, no employee, no powerful and powerless. Flesh, bone.

And fear.

Jon can feel the heart race, the muffled cry of pain and surprise. And the smug grey eyes as his hands ball in Jon's hair, to pull his head back. ]

Kill me. [ He gasps. ] I'll see you again soon, my Archivist.

[Jonah lets out a small noise at the pull, but the words are a bucket of ice water on his nerves.

My Archivist.

Elias can practically taste the panic that comes off Jonah at hearing them, the way tinges of green start to emerge under his skin on his face.

In a breath, Jonah sits up, pressing his knee into Elias' chest and scrambling his hand over Elias' desk trying to grab for something, anything - and comes away with his letter opener, long and sharp as ever.]

Since you're asking, then fine. I will- [The last word is in a growl as he plunges the blade down.]

[ The answer is just a gurgle. His face purpling and then draining of color all together with a wheeze, and his fingers go lax in Jon's hair.

And something, something old and terrible, withered and terrified of death of all else, struggles out, leaking like tears to find someone else to worm into through the eyes... ]

[Jonah doesn't quite noticed, gulping and gasping for a breath as he's done. Something he hadn't. An actual, very real, physical taking of life.

He grips the blade before lifting it up and plunging it down again. Sasha.

Again. Tim.

Again. Gertrude.

Again, and his arms are trembling. Gerry.

Again, his breaths coming out in a wet gasp. The world he destroyed.

But he can see that stray path of fear, like the mucus from a snail trailing.]

No. Tim?

[ He sees it. He knows the moment Jon gasps it out. There was something he never quite thought about himself, standing there, watching the blood splatter over Jon.

But there in that revenge washing over him there is an answering fire, just a moment of admiration...

And he lets the fire he'd built go. It flashes along the floor, like fire eating gas fumes, centering on that hope of escape, a new life, a chance, of being so close.

The fire eats at it...

And Jonah Magnus tries to flee back to his body in a moment of desperate instinct. ]

[ When Elias gets there...

With his eyes elsewhere, he can't see the shade emerging from the shadows, more mist than human at this point. He can't see the last moment of hesitation as Algric considers the desiccated corpse in front of him. Wonders if the timing is right.

Hopes Tim and Jon have done enough.

No, Elias can't see any of that. But he can feel the blade plunge down into his chest, seeking his heart. He can feel the cold pressing in through the steel of what would normally be a fairly blunt kitchen knife, sharpening it to a razor point. And he can hear a voice often ignored, always underestimated: ]

Fuck off, Jonah Magnus.

[ As the knife twists and everything fades to nothing. ]

[Jonah sits for a long moment, frozen in position of stabbing Elias Bouchard for all of time. Before he shifts his weight and pulls the blade out, sitting on his knee to one side of the body, trembling as the emotion leaks out of his eyes. He stares at the body in disbelief.]

He's gone...

[They really did it. Even as his hand still clutches the handle of the blade for his very life and the adrenaline drips out of him.]

Are... are you sure? [ So maybe that's a dumb question, but it feels like he HAS to ask it. It feels.. unreal?

He stumbles the distance, feeling exhausted and drained more than he ever has, and drops down next to Jon in a little splash of blood. ]

I'm sure.

[He nods, but there are still tears, his hands still tremble.It's over, they're... safe? Safe. No one else to manipulate the situations, or try to force this ever again.]

H-he's gone.

[ He's gone. He's gone. They did it...

And remembers the missing fingers on the hands that tremble now, the gastly sight without the legs. The burns where his dumbass...

It's a bit of a lunge himself. A dam breaking as he wraps up Jonah in the tightest of embraces. ]

You idiot. I'm... I'm so glad you're okay. Why are you here. Thank god. [ There's no coherence, not any more than the tumble of feelings, grief, love, worry, joy, relief... it's all a rambling mess, but the embrace is tight and solid. ]

[He instinctively tenses in the embrace, muscles ready for an impact of pain as he trembles.

But then it doesn't come.

Instead it's worry, genuine concern. Jonah isn't sure what to do with that. His voice is shaky as he tries to answer.]

Algric - Algric... broke his promise. And. A-and next thing I knew, I was downstairs.

[Had he stormed his way here in his anger and not remembered the in between? Or had it been something else? He'll never know.]

[ Speak of the devil and he appears. One of the walls frost over, then shifts into mist. Out of it steps Algric, more ghost than person by now. Those cracks running through him are completely clear, while the rest of him is ... human-shaped? But there's a layer of mist nearly everywhere, obscuring his features. No colour. No copper curls.

He's silent a moment at Jonah's comment. Relieved to see Tim and Jonah in one piece. ]

Why, Jon? Why'd you come?

[ No pain. Not even that unearthly warmth, everything Tim had in him, he'd expended. (Something cracks and creaks in his hidden arm.) All that's left is exhaustion and worry. The hand that runs down his back is somewhere between possessive and soothing. Both at once. ]

I... We'll deal with that.

[ And the chilling cold of Algric returns... there's something damp and heavy, nearly invisible... He struggles to focus on him. It staves off the explosion that is surely coming from there for a moment, at least. ]

[The nearly imperceptible greens in his shadows are coming out now like a new bruise, soft handprints on his face, his chin, his lips. But Jonah is trying to hold it together, trying to stay together - but the hands around him and down his back send him nearly crumpling. Especially when he feels that chill, and the sudden ice piercing into his bad shoulder is almost too much as it runs through the new crack there.

He can't get his eyes to focus just yet, the fog disorienting him, but.]

You lied to me.

[ The fog ... solidifies a little. Both Tim and Jon will find that they can focus on him, if they want to; the fog is distinctly-Algric shaped now. Just. Utterly colourless, his sharpest features blurred to nothing and nobody. ]

Jon. Please. I did it for your own good. This - this was enough of a mess already.

[ He reaches out a hand - hesitates. Looks at Tim. ]

Tim didn't know.