Whumptober Day 1- Against the Clock (The Magnus Archives)
So I'm not necessarily committing to any of the October challenges but fancied torturing myself with some sad today to celebrate the first of spooky month!
This takes place during ep 200 of TMA and is very spoiler heavy!!
CW: Martin's POV, many negative thoughts, emotional spiralling, character death.
Enjoy the whump!!
Martin should have known.
He shouldn't have allowed himself to become complacent, to sleep so heavily and soundly relying on their thrown together plan. That Jon was in agreement, no matter how reluctantly, shouldn't have been enough to soothe his nerves or calm his overthinking.
When he awoke after a time from a foreign sensation on his face, spying the cobwebs that littered the corners of his and Jon's shared room in the tunnels, he knew. When he reached over to the other side of the mattress, confident that it would be empty, he knew.
Yet knowing did nothing to halt the drop he felt in his gut, the immediate nausea that overcame him as he felt the cold, empty bedsheet at his side.
He was quick to act.
He didn't have to ask anyone if they'd seen Jon, didn't need to walk outside to see if he was having a cigarette to confirm his worries; he knew exactly where he'd gone.
Jon's quiet hesitance the night before should have been sign enough, his reluctance to discuss the plan in any further detail or elaborate on his feelings, despite his recent attempts at openness.
It was simple to attribute how tightly he held Martin as they fell asleep in each other's arms as nerves for the outcome of the plan. He doubted he shared in Martin's optimism after all.
But he should have known it was more than that.
Somehow, he holds himself together as he gathers the others and tells them to execute the plan now. He nods in confirmation as Georgie flicks the cap of the golden zippo open and closed as they go over the final details with an air of rushed panic.
They shared a look of worry and concern, mirrored and communicated without words before a final nod in agreement as they separated.
One way or another, Martin thought, this ends now.
The air was heavy as he traversed the tunnels, following a route that felt so very right regardless of how unfamiliar it seemed.
But it was too quiet.
Only the sound of his breath and quick footballs echoing to interrupt the thoughts flooding his mind. The worries and anxieties, the what-ifs and doubts.
He had to make it in time, he was going to, wasn't he? Jon wouldn't, couldn't do what he was thinking, right? Killing the Avatars was one thing, using the Eye as a weapon to carry out the deed on his behalf, but holding the knife and plunging it into all too human flesh; was that something he was capable of?
He had to hope- no, believe not. It was Martin's role after all, one he agreed to with no hesitation. It was a small price to pay for an escape and an end to all of this.
But he can't help but think back to the previous day. The whole discussion seemed to play out in such a blur at the time, yet now it seemed to be replaying at half speed.
They really didn't give him a chance, did they? Of course the idea was stupid, they were- he was never going to agree to allowing Jon to martyr himself as he slowly drains the world of all life and fear. But they hadn't even given him a chance, had they?
Even as he was crying in Martin's arms, unwilling to accept that this was the only reasonable outcome, he still didn't give him room to voice his concerns.
This was all his fault.
If he'd just given him a chance, an outlet, even just validated him in his desire to at least attempt to not spread these horrors further than their own world, maybe he would have reconsidered.
All his big talk on being there, on being someone Jon could be truly open with, and he had shut him down, just like the others had. All because of his own fear, his own selfish fear of losing the one good thing this whole escapade had brought him.
But he was right, wasn't he?
If Jon could care so much about these unknown universes, surely he was allowed to care about this one person. That didn't make him bad, right? Surely it only made him… human.
By the time he realised how quick his own breaths were coming, how his legs ached with the exertion of climbing countless steps, the door was in front of him.
He'd made good time, he was quick enough, surely. Jon couldn't have been gone long, the Mother of Puppets wouldn't have left him sleeping too late… would they?
As he pushed the door open, seeing Jon and calling for him, stood in the centre of the space as if he belonged, the doubt set in.
“Martin, what are you doing here?” His voice was… wrong. Something was very wrong. Martin's next words were cascading out of his mouth, his ears barely registering the sound of his own voice as his eyes set upon the figure on the floor.
He asked, knowing the answer he would get, yet still needing to hear it in Jon's all too discordant voice, the final confirmation that this was all in fact, real, as there was no way his own psyche could have ever imagined Jon's voice to sound anything close to as monstrous as it now was.
“Elias… Jonah Magnus.”
And all at once he knew he was too late, knew what would now need to be done as his eyes set on the knife that lay next to Jonah’s body.
In the ensuing back and forth as his entire world was shattered in front of his very eyes, as all of his fears came to fruition and his doubts were confirmed, he considered asking Jon how it felt, to plunge a knife into the flesh of another.
But as it turned out, he never needed to ask to know the answer. As the blade sunk heavily into Jon's chest, it may as well have been his own heart he cleaved for all the pain it caused him, as he watched the forced smile drop from his love’s face, and felt the pull of the Web take hold and the darkness that followed.
So I’ve heard the hc that Jon didn’t have to wear glasses past season 4, that the eye enhanced his eye sight or something, and I love that. I think when he realized he would pop out the lenses and keep wearing the frames, either to keep the idea he’s still human, or maybe just because it’s familiar. But I’d like to add on to that. In season 5 the eye sees for him, at least when he’s looking somewhere else/trying to know something, but sho’a to say the eye isn’t seeing for him constantly? His vision is perfectly clear, he’s stopped wearing the frames at this point, but Martin noticed his eyes slowly going a milky white, like he’s blind. The eyes have atrophied in a way, as he never sees for himself, it’s always the eye. I know eyes don’t work like that, but I like the implications of it, it kinda falls into the weirdness of Jon sleeping with his eyes open, that sort of thing. He wouldn’t even notice it himself, I doubt they’re coming across many mirrors out there, or that Jon would be bothered to look anyway. Martin would have to be the one to tell him. Maybe once they’re out of the apocalypse Jon can’t see well anymore, and it’s just another way the absence of the eye would be detrimental to him.
