MAG 92: Nothing Beside Remains

Statement of Barnabas Bennett, as given in a short letter to Jonah Magnus.
==Pre-Statement==
The episode begins with Elias Bouchard dialing the police to report a crime in progress. He identifies himself and asks to speak with a Chief Inspector, whereupon he informs the Inspector that Daisy Tonner will be coming to the Magnus Institute in the next 15 minutes to harm him. The police promise to send someone.
== Statement ==
Following this call, Elias reads a letter written by Barnabas Bennett to Jonah Magnus. Barnabas is writing for help regarding a debt he has fallen into with Mordechai Lukas. Lukas demanded repayment of the debt, and promises Barnabas that the debt will be repaid "in kind".
Returning home, Barnabas seemed slightly disturbed that the coach he had taken seemed to have no driver. He reflects in this letter that he is usually glad that he has no one who he is close to apart from a brother, but he feels now lost in this loneliness and that events are occurring that he cannot explain. This letter was written in order to ask for help from Magnus, expressing a belief that Barnabas would not be left in that lonely place.
== Post-Statement ==
Elias addresses Jonathan Sims directly in his reply, saying that Magnus did leave Barnabas to fend for himself. It was within Magnus' power to intervene, but he chose not to not out of malice or lack of caring, but because he was curious what would happen to Barnabas and wanted to observe events. Elias affirms the point of the Magnus Institute is to watch and observe, which is something he claims Gertrude understood. He then says he is ready to begin as Martin enters to say that Sims has returned to the Institute, along with Daisy and Basira.
Elias asks for Martin to bring Melanie and Tim to witness what is about to happen. He asks if John has a question for him, and John asks if Elias killed Gertrude and Jurgen Leitner. Elias revels in the feeling of being compelled to speak his story, and Elias says he will answer this question of his own free will, but wants to wait for the other research assistants.
Once everyone gathers, Elias affirms that all actions he has taken were under his own control and there was no compulsion involved. He admits to killing Gertrude Robinson to protect the Archives, and killed Jurgen Leitner to prevent him from telling John too much too soon. When Martin asks about Sasha, John tells Martin that Sasha was replaced by Not-Sasha over a year ago - a fact that Elias confirms. When questioned about Michael, Elias is dismissive and calls him an "irritant".
Daisy says she has had enough and tells everyone to back off, drawing a gun. A phone rings, and Rosie says that some police officers are here to see him. Elias taunts Daisy saying she can arrest him now, before revealing that he has sent evidence to police headquarters exposing Daisy's crimes. Daisy is prepared to go to jail in exchange for killing Elias, but Elias says that in their effort to clean up her involvement they would kill anyone involved - including Basira.
As an alternative plan, Elias presents an employment contract to Basira saying that if she signs this contract, he will allow Daisy to go. When asking how this is meant to prevent her from shooting Elias, Elias says that he is the heart of the Institute and that if he dies, everyone employed by it will die as well. Unwilling to kill Basira, Daisy backs down and Elias says he will make use of Daisy's services in the future.
Dismissing everyone else, Elias congratulates John on his work in the last few weeks. Elias says he will not be giving any answers to him, that his job as the Archivist is to chronicle and experience events through the eyes of others. If John merely got all the answers, it would not please their master.
Elias confirms that he was the one sending the tapes to John, with the goal of preventing The Unknowing. Elias states that it is a ritual being performed by The Stranger but again refuses to just tell John. He claims that The Stranger is the antithesis to The Beholding and if Jonathan does not strengthen his own abilities, he will not be strong enough to stop the ritual.
The last question John has is if he is still human. Elias asks what human is, but says that John is still breathing, and still has most of his own will and is unlikely to end up like the creature found in Alexandria.
The tape ends with Elias welcoming John back to work.
==Continuity==
*Related Entity: The Eye and The Lonely.
Category:The Magnus Archives Episodes