Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Scritch 

The classroom was silent apart from the scratching of pens.  It was an end of term essay about the first two poems Jon's students had learnt about. It was also his last class of the day and he was ready to go home, his leg was acting out so badly that he had to drag his crutch out from under the bed. 

“Ew.” Jon's head snapped from his computer to the student who had spoken.  The girl, Meriam, swatted some sort of bug off her hijab, looking up apologetically at Jon. Jon let his stare linger on Meriam, before he moved his eyes back to his lesson plans. 

Scratch. Scritch 

The sounds of pens were starting to annoy Jon so he tried to overwhelm that noise by the clacking of his keyboard. 

Scritch. Scritch 

Jon withheld a sigh, looking at his students rush the essays as there was only 15 minutes left, the scratching was irritating. 

Scritch 

A slam quickly echoed around the room from table 5, Terry looking at his hand with disgust as grey blood oozed from the corpse of a bug he had just squished. 

Scritch

Jon was about to offer the teen a tissue when screaming erupted. 

The ceiling tiles above Terry collapsed and what followed was bugs. 

“EVERYONE OUT!” Jon yelled, ignoring the pain that shot through him as he ran towards the door without his crutch, yanking it open. His students didn't even take a moment to argue as they shot out of their seats.  Students piled out of the door, screaming and screeching as the bugs; similar to worms with dark brown bodies, fell out of the ceiling in one huge pile. 

Teachers from the other classrooms came out to question the screaming, but when they saw the pile of squirming, slithering worms in Jon’s classroom, they also yelled for their students to get to the field. 

“No, go outside the school grounds, that's got concrete!” Jon yelled. Thankfully one of the English teachers, Mr Bailey, was a part of the school's admin team so he had a radio on him. Soon enough the fire alarm was blaring throughout the school and announcements to head outside the school echoed behind it. Students wandered out of the school; confused yet pleased they got to leave early. But Jon's class panicked, which he understood as memories as Jane Prentiss’ attack plagued his mind. 

The moment he and his class made it to the concrete, his eyes wandered over the area to look for Fiona as she was the closest to the attack. “Fiona!” Jon called out, thankfully the girl heard him and she came running to him. She was stumbling over her words, tears running down her face. 

“Did any of the bugs get onto you?” Jon asked as he Looked at her, thankfully she was void of those creatures. The girl shook her head, her hand was tightly clutching her polo shirt as she tried to take control over her breathing before she collapsed to her knees. Jon, once again ignoring the pain in his leg, knelt down and grabbed her hands. Squeezing them to help ground her. 

“Fiona!” Two voices of her friends, Bobby and Mary, called out as they rushed over to her. 

“Mr Sims what’s going on?” Mary asked as she knelt down next to Fiona, wrapping her arms around her tightly. 

Jon’s mouth went dry as he tried to think of what to say, memories of Prentiss’ attack were still in the forefront of his mind. 

“There seems to be… an infestation.” He managed to get out. The three kids grimaced. 

Wait…

Three? 

“Where’s Terry?” 

Fiona choked on another sob as her eyes wandered back to the school building. Desperation filling them. 

The Corruption has found its host.

Chapter Text

Terry didn’t know what music sounded like. 

He lost his hearing when he was barely a year old, so he never got to listen to music truly. Sure, if it was loud enough he could make out the faintest whisper over the vibrations of the song, but he never bothered. 

He didn’t have a favourite artist, a favourite song or musical. None of that mattered to him. 

But he could hear music. 

It was so peaceful. It felt so loving. So welcoming in a world that overlooked him. 

Where was he

He felt so loved as the music he shouldn’t be able to hear entered his mind. It engulfed him. 

Help please where is he

The swarm loved him dearly. 

He was to become one of them. They would forgive his killing of one of their larvae if he simply became their home. 

They were crawling over him help help help get them off

They would let him live of course, an inhabitant can’t live in the remains of their home. 

Terry didn’t want that help him please help help get them off get them out

They placed their babies within his skin to keep them safe and warm. And he would protect them, he welcomed them as they welcomed him. 

Their song was so beautiful. 

Get them out of him get them off him

The adults placed themselves on his skin, they thought of him as their own. 

As their host. 

As their leader. 

As one. 

No no he was Terrance Lauren Hammonds, he wasn’t a part of the Swarm. 

They silenced those thoughts. Their song overwhelmed his mind. 

He only needed the Swarm. No one else. 

No, he had friends

The Swarm loved him more. 

Fiona. Mary. Bobby. His parents. His cousins, Carla and Carol. They loved him! 

The Swarm loved him in a way he couldn’t understand, but their song was oh so wonderful. Their song showed their love for him, how much they wished for him to be there with them, for him to be a part of them. 

They are to be one. 

He was both Swarm and Host. 

He was both parasite and mutualist. He took their love yet he returned it. They took his body they’ve taken his body mind yet they gave him their own. 

He could hear them. 

Their song was beautiful. And he didn’t want to stop hearing it. 

Chapter Text

Jon ran, as best he could, through the crowd to find at least one competent teacher. Eventually he landed on Mx Carlance– Alex, as they were on the phone to some exterminators.  “Terry is still in my classroom.” Jon panted out, knuckles going white from how tightly he was grabbing on his leg. 

“What?” Alex questioned, their phone leaving their ears slightly. 

“The-” Crane fly larvae , the Eye quickly told him, “-larvae fell right on top of him. We didn’t notice until we were out of the classroom.” 

The decade old Mark of the Lonely kept Jon’s eyes from wandering over to Terry often. Often he’d even forget the boy was in the classroom half the time, it was that Mark that made Jon forget about him as he got his class to evacuate. 

That guilt ate him. 

Alex’s eyes widened as they relayed this information to the exterminators, Jon could hear them talk about calling an ambulance in case any ended up in Terry’s system.  “It’s going to take them 45 minutes to arrive.” Jon said, Knowing that information made the guilt hurt more. 

He knew what it was like to be consumed by the Corruption, the dotted scars proved just how painful it was, and he didn’t know what the Corruption was like in this universe, or without a host…

Oh God…

It was going to make Terry a host. 

Jon stumbled away from Alex and started to head back to the school, he Knew where the fire extinguishers were, he could only hope that they worked on this Corruption. 

“Mr Sims!” He heard Bobby call out, the three teens ran up to him, Fiona seemed a bit calmer than she was early, even with tears still streaming down her cheeks, “Where are you going?” 

Jon took a breath, “It’s going to take the exterminators and ambulance almost an hour to get here…and I don’t think they’ll be able to get Terry back if they take that long.” 

“So you’re just going to go in there like a superhero and get him out?” Mary scoffed, but Jon knew she meant no bite in her words, she was just scared for her friend. 

“I’ve been through something similar to this in the past. I know how to handle this situation.” Jon didn’t want these kids to get involved, but he didn’t even need any Knowledge to know they were determined to help him. 

“Well obviously it didn’t go well for you last time, so let us help. Terry’s our friend.” Bobby exclaimed, beside him, Fiona nodded in agreement. 

Jon ran a hand over his face, sighing, he didn’t need the Eye to tell him that the teens were just going to rush in regardless. At the very least, if he was with them he could make sure they didn’t get injured. “Do any of you have a quick way to the cleaners closet?” 

Mary and Fiona quickly looked over at Bobby who blushed in embarrassment– He typically used that closet as a makeout spot – Jon kept his face as neutral as he could as the Eye informed of something he really didn’t want to know. So he simply nodded to Bobby who took charge of the group, leading them around the school until they came to an exterior door that led straight into the cleaner’s closet.  “Take two each, I don’t know how many of those larvae there’ll be.” As Jon took an extinguisher he also saw a spare crutch in the closet, why was it there? The Eye didn’t tell him but he didn’t care as he took it, adjusted as best he could, let out a breath of relief as the majority of his weight was taken off his leg. 

“Is…is this what happened at your old job?” Fiona asked as she walked next to Jon, her tears dried up now, and determination replaced her fear. 

Jon hummed, “It wasn’t larvae that attacked us, it was some species of worm, a parasite more so. They attacked my leg first pretty badly then later they got a hold of my body.” Jon didn’t miss the way the teens’ eyes flickered over his dotted scars. 

They were worried about Terry getting those scars. 

“I don’t think the same will happen to Terry as those were parasites and this is just a larvae infestation.” Jon replied to the Eyes information. 

Bobby huffed, “And yet you’re still worried enough that you’ve gone back into the school to fight the bugs.” 

Jon didn’t answer. 

They heard the slithering before they saw the mass. 

Jon put a hand up to stop the teens, walking around the corner first. 

He felt sick at the first in front of him. 

He could tell it was Terry, or…was Terry. 

His body was covered in crane flies, and his skin bulged in places where eggs had no doubt been put, ready for hatching. His eyes were visible but they looked distant. 

“Mr Sims.” When he spoke, flies exited and entered his mouth. His voice was distorted, buzzing, like it was being sung from a thousand choirs. Jon almost wanted to call it beautiful if he didn’t see where the voice came from. “Or should I say Archivist.” 

Jon flinched back, “ How do you know that name? ” 

The body of Terry straightened up, “We were torn from our domain. We were left without a host, without someone to love. We ended up here. We couldn’t take the form of worms again. So we chose a new creature. Crane flies can live in almost any type of environment, so we chose them. It took decades to build up the strength to have a Swarm. Then, we found you. We heard from a little fly,” The Swarm laughed, “That you and the Alone Yet Connected One had finally come through. So we waited, we’re very patient you know. And well our last introduction had worked so well last time that we just had to do it again!” 

“ Why did you choose Terry Hammonds? ” Jon once again compelled. 

The Swarmed waved Terry’s hand, “He just happened to be sitting under our nest. We didn’t choose him like how we choose Jane, he was just the more convenient option. In fact we almost didn’t know he was there.” 

Jon gritted his teeth in irritation. “ Is Terry still in there? ” 

“Goodness, Archivist, so many questions. But yes, he is still here. He is fighting us very hard, but we just want him to know that we love him and welcome him as one of the Swarm.” 

“You haven’t killed him?” The shaky voice of Fiona voiced as she came out from the corner. Jon watched the Swarm’s reaction. 

Terry is trying to take back control. 

“Surely they’ve taught you about parasites and hosts in this school? We can’t live without a host.” The Swarm answered. 

“But a host can survive without the parasite.” Bobby also emerged alongside Mary. Both of them had the fire extinguisher ready. 

But the Swarm only laughed, “If you kill me, you kill Terry. And surely you don’t wish for your friend to die.” 

All three teens reeled in fear. 

“What about a deal?” Jon kept his eyes closed and his head towards the floor as he spoke, “You allow for Terry to have the majority of his autonomy, and you simply live with him as a symbolist relationship. You keep each other alive. Keep each other loved” Jon hated the deal he gave, but it was the only thing that would guarantee Terry’s return 

The Swarm ‘ooh’-ed, “I never thought about doing that before. That’ll be very fun to try! Okay okay, let’s try it.” The four watched as the Crane Flies that had planted themselves on Terry’s skin lessen, now content with hovering above him. The eggs that were previously inside his skin fell out, the skin healing up but leaving tiny and barely noticeable scars on his dark skin, the flies picked up the eggs before they reached the ground and held them. Eventually Terry fell to the floor, panting and coughing as the last few newly hatched flies left his mouth and eyes. 

Fiona was the first one to rush over to him. Not caring for the flies surrounding him as she picked him up and hugged him, the tears returning. Not soon after, Bobby and Mary also rushed over, forgoing their fire extinguisher. 

“Terry?” Fiona made sure her voice was loud enough so that the teen could somewhat hear her. He barely even made eye contact with her, ‘You okay?’ She signed with one hand. 

Terry didn’t answer as he let his head fall onto Fiona’s chest. 

“What do we do Mr Sims?” Mary asked panicked, her hand tightly gripping her cross necklace. 

There are Section 31 Officers on their way and Unit 62-S-P-N’s First Responders on the way. 

Jon didn’t even know how those sections of the force existed if the Institute wasn’t even built, or maybe they were created regardless of the Institute. But he was glad they were. (Was Daisy here then? Basira? Would he even be able to see them without thinking that they were the versions he once knew?)

“Take him outside. It might make the responder’s lives easier.” 

Bobby, being the strongest of the group, was the one to carry out Terry, the Swarm was thankfully smart enough and conscious enough to disband once they made it out of the building, taking perch on the bricks of the school building, blending in perfectly with the regular crane flies, but he had no doubt they would return to their Host once they got the chance. 

The ambulance rolled up not even five minutes afterward, Jon spun a story about how he noticed the three running back into the building and tried to go after them to stop them and they found Terry out of the classroom, having escaped the pile of bugs he was under. Thankfully the medics believed him, he almost wanted to compel one of them into telling him about the fears and their roles in Somewhere Else. But he held his tongue. 

Jon slipped out of the crowd in order to avoid the teens, he couldn’t deal with their questions right now. He had to call Martin and inform him of…this whole mess.