A massive thank you to everyone reading from tumblr! This fic is the biggest project I’ve ever done and all of your thoughts and comments and enthusiasm has been so perfect, thank you so, so much for being here! I am going to miss this story so, so much...but desolation Gerry is on the way, I promise!
Chapters: 20/20
Fandom: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Gerard Keay/Michael Shelley, Gerard Keay/Michael | The Distortion, Gerard Keay & Gertrude Robinson
Characters: Gerard Keay, Michael Shelley, Michael | The Distortion (The Magnus Archives), Gertrude Robinson, Elias Bouchard | Jonah Magnus, Eric Delano, Original Fear Entity Avatars (The Magnus Archives), Mary Keay
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Spiral Avatar Michael Shelley, Canon-Typical The Spiral Content (The Magnus Archives), Beholding Avatar Gerard Keay, Canon-Typical The Beholding Content (The Magnus Archives), Leitner Books (The Magnus Archives), Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, (in some chapters), Memory Related, Psychological Trauma, Loss of Trust, Manipulation, Head Archivist Gertrude Robinson Era, Fate & Destiny, Mutual Pining, Developing Relationship, Mentioned Jurgen Leitner, Falling In Love, Dissociation, Loss of Identity, The Stranger Fear Entity (The Magnus Archives), Mary Keay's A+ Parenting, Gerard Keay Needs a Hug, Medium burn? not slow burn but it takes a minute, Grief/Mourning, Elias Bouchard | Jonah Magnus Being an Asshole, Manipulative Elias Bouchard | Jonah Magnus, Self-Destruction, Canon-Typical Violence
Summary:
One: He is, as far as he knows, still Michael–although this is dubious, and perhaps does not count.
Two: The world that he lives in is not what he thought it was. It never has been, and it never will be again.
Three: He cannot, in any circumstances from now until the end of days, trust Gertrude Robinson.
An AU in which the Great Twisting crumbled before Michael could be consumed by The Distortion–and he emerges, alive and angry about it. Alternatively, an AU in which Gertrude begins to work on her theories about the rituals much, much earlier, and Gerry finds himself chasing the mystery that is Michael Shelley.