《Fragile》SCP-049 x Injured!Reader

《Chapter Nine》FINALE

There was a bird, caged within your chest, you thought, as the thrumming of your heartbeat resembled that of a trapped bird's fluttering wings. Your heart-bird was anxious in its confinement of your ribs, and, throwing its powerful wings against the prison of bones, let you know it was impatient for escape, for freedom. Although your heart-bird may never see outside of its place within your chest, you might just get the chance. The sterile-white hallways of the facility that you and your companion were currently backtracking through made you miss the way the sun kissed your bare skin, and you longed for a reunion with it. You imagined it being like a wife running to her husband returning from war, and you would melt in the warmth of the midday sunshine, kissed by it like you've never been kissed before.

You felt giddy, as though already outside. In your mind, you've left this Godforsaken faculty far behind, dancing through a grassy knoll in the arms of your sun-lover, your knee fully healed, and your heart-bird perched happy and content behind your ribs. The prospect of leaving this nightmare behind for good, freedom agonizingly close, brushing against your fingertips as if it were something tangible that could be grasped.

Speaking of fingertips, a set shrouded in a thick, black leather glove suddenly slipped from encircling your wrist to clasping your hand instead. The change was so innocent that it almost went undetected by you, but not to your heart-bird, who squawked and beat its wings so vehemently that you feared it might actually come careening out of your chest.

You scolded your fast-beating heart silently as if it might betray you to the owner of the aforementioned leather-clad hand. If the previous... event... that transpired in the darkness of the janitor's closet not too long ago was anything to go by, you were sure of the importance of physical touch to SCP-049. He had said it himself—albeit in a way that made your stomach feel like its been tossed into a blender—but he said it nonetheless. You had been permitted a glimpse into the soul of a very powerful being. A very powerful being that not only seemed to trust you in the midst of his vulnerability, but care for you as well.

Unknowingly, you had forged a bond with this being—whether he be human, monster, both, or something else entirely—and it was a connection that reminded you of your time bathed in sunlight. SCP-049, your warm, passionate sun-lover and you, (Y/n) (L/n), the happy schoolgirl frolicking in his fervor without a care in the world.

So, not about to unravel this strangely intimate bond you now share, you gave the gloved hand a shy—yet amiable—squeeze. Although you kept your gaze focused straight ahead, feigning interest in the fluorescent lights overhead, too nervous to turn and face him, you knew he took note of your gesture. A sharp inhale, muffled by his mask. The light twitch of his fingers, barely felt.

You walked (well, more accurately, slowly jogged, as you did have a place to get to relatively quickly) like this all the way up until you finally returned to the room, the one filled with computers and blinking lights. As soon as you entered, SCP-049 turned to you as if to say something, when your classmates suddenly flooded out of the conference room, the farthest door on the left, with Caleb leading the pack, waving something small in the air; something he found in one of the drawers. A level 5 keycard, he said it was. It blazed red in his hands, a beacon of hope.

Although the scary, stone-scraping creature was apparently long gone, SCP-049 said that he would prefer to remain moving while he explained the escape plan, just in case.

"There are yet other beasts in this building that we have yet to stumble upon," he warned darkly.

And so he led you all through more mazes of hallways until it finally branched off to a wider corridor, a widowed double-door at the end. Ellie was standing close next to you again. You were standing close next to SCP-049 still.