049 took a seat on one of the many large rocks that were scattered throughout the woods. He had his back to 035, who was staring down at the ground with a frown.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. With a still shaking hand he raised up the scalpel, he held his mask with the other. He took a moment to remind himself why he was doing this and what was at risk.
Sharp and cool metal pressed against the side of his face. He began to run the blade along the line that mask met skin. Warm droplets of blood soon followed the scalpel. Even if he'd grown more tolerant to pain he could still feel the sting of the fresh wounds.
With another cut he could feel that side of his mask separate.
035 will himself to stay despite every part of him wanting to stop 049, even if the cuts didn't hurt. He didn't want to but he couldn't help but watch as 049 began to cut along the other side of his mask.
After a moment 049 was holding his mask in his hands, running his fingers along the beak and over the edges, now painted with a line of red. He put the mask inside of his bag and raised his scalpel again.
"Might as well get rid of the cloak too I suppose."
The cuts were smaller and quicker this time, the cloak hadn't been as fused to his skin as the mask. 049 shrugged off the cloak and turned aroma, revealing the man underneath.
Beneath the heavy cloak he was thin and what skin was visible was ghostly pale. His shirt and vest gathering the blood that trickled down by the sides of his neck.
035 raised a hand and ran his fingers along the fresh cuts on the sides of 049's face. "You alright Doc?"
049 placed his hand over the mask's. "What's a few more scars to add to the list. I'll be fine."
The mask sighed, he wasn't wrong. Scars of all sorts ran across his skin. The two new cuts would blend in perfectly with the many that already appeared on his face.
Now that the mask was off 035 noticed how the Doctor's left eye seemed a bit mute clouded over, the scar that ran over it certainly didn't help ease his worry. 035 ran his thumb under 049's eye, before he could ask 049 spoke up.
"Oh, don't worry about that, it's been like this for years."
"You sure?" 035 was hesitant to believe him, for as long as he's known him 049 had always been one to put aside his own injuries if he didn't think of them as critical. If he didn't he would simply disinfect them and treat them when he was done with whatever he was wit on at the moment.
"Yes, I'm fine, I just need to patch up a bit and then we'll be off."
035 nodded, dropping his hands from 049's face. Once he did 049 got to work on cleaning up the blood. Cleaning and disinfecting the wounds came first. Soon, with the help of a few tricks he had learned over the years, the blood that had gotten on his clothes and hair had been cleaned off completely.
"Here, let me help." 035 grabbed a ribbon out of the doctor's bag. "You're shirt isn't at all buttoned properly."
That wasn't exactly true, 049's shirt had been buttoned property with the exception of the top two, which had been undone.
"We can save that for later."
"Masque!"
035 laughed as he looked at the blushing doctor. " I'm sorry my dear, I couldn't help it. You know I'm only joking with you."
049 let out a small huff, but 035 could tell he wasn't really upset. He began to fix the ribbon around 049's to hold his shirt collar up. The ribbon was all black with the exception of a shining ruby placed in the center.
035 had found in on one of his trips into town. It was tucked away amongst the other jewelry but it had caught his eye. He'd gotten a ring with it as well, a gold one to match the Doctor's eyes, even if it could never come close to being such a beautiful shade of gold.
049's voice drew 035 back to the present "I suppose I need my jacket don't I? Most people don't have..."
035 finished for him. "Tails?"
"Yes that."
It was one of 049 unusual qualities, a feathered tail, similar to that of a raven or a crow. Luckily he still had his old jacket with him. It was long and dark, which was perfect for covering the tail.
Now looking like nothing the foundation would recognize as one of the escaped scps 049 nodded. "Alright, lets go."
035 took his hand and they walked back towards the group.
For a moment everyone was quiet but that quiet was soon broken by Jay wrapping 049 in a tight hug. It was impossible to make out what he was saying but he sounded happy. 049 felt a second pair of arms around him, not needing to see him to know it was 035.
It was nice, but they had work to do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I did some drawings of 049 without his mask and cloak and figured I should share them here
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