Months had passed since Kayden's death. Ever since the foundation's security had increased drastically. The containment breach that took Kayden's life fuelled the ever present anxiety the foundation's personnel already had to endure. Guards were doubled and no one under level 4 security access was allowed to venture past their designated office or assigned SCP's containment chamber.

So in turn it had been a while since you've been anywhere but your apartment, the lunchroom or the basement where SCP 049's containment chamber was located. The days blended into a long grey blur of documents and interviews. With all these restrictions in place it has been hard to see Hadley or Chloe for a while. You had hoped to talk to Hadley again to check on her, but she was even more distant than before now. She didn't even show up for meals anymore. Your stomach squeezed at the thought. You hoped she was ok.

You felt a shiver tingle down from your spine and head towards the ground below. Rubbing your arms you tried to soothe the goosebumps appearing all over your skin. The basement was freezing today. As it had been for the last few days. You glanced over at the dark, looming figure in the containment chamber beside you. He didn't show any signs of being as cold as you were. In fact now that you were thinking about it, you didn't really know if temperature effected him all that much.

Pulling your lab coat tighter against yourself You focused back on the document at hand. You were preparing for another interview with SCP-049. Dr. Ogami left you a note to do so, and saying that he had a prior arrangement and would be back in time to watch. You hoped that was true. Although the basement and SCP-049 was becoming more familiar to you, you still didn't want to be alone during an interview. Sure, you had a few guards with you, but so had Dr. Hamm.

You glanced around a weight building in your stomach. Dr. Ogami should be here by now. You made note were the guards were. They were here, but not close enough.

You rubbed your arms in a vain attempt to calm both your chills and your nerves. You reached out and grabbed a hot cup of coffee You had brought down earlier. You held the warm drink in your hands, letting it's heat trickle up through your fingers and the steam warm your cold face. You smile in relief and took a drink. The warm liquid went down your throat and into your stomach. Warming you up for just a little longer.

Though, even with its warmth your finger couldn't help but tap nervously against the cup.

-----

SCP-049 was lead into the interview room. The chains around his neck and hands clanking after each step. You shuffled your feet in place. Since Dr. Ogami is still gone you are required to interview SCP-049 alone. No second scientist watching for any signs of aggression, ready to immediately alert the guards if anything started to escalate. It was only you, the cameras, and a few guards just close enough to hear you yell if your fears became a reality.

The guards locked SCP-049 in place. Technically that should make you feel safer, but somehow it only caused the pit in your stomach to grow. The guards motioned to you signalling to you that he was ready.

You made your way down the stairs each step felt harder than the last. The next thing you knew you were face to face with the infamous door that has lead many to their deaths. Kayden came to mind again. His thin, grey form with insects tunneling throughout his dying body. Your heart raced. Thankfully, so far SCP-049 hasn't shown any form of aggression towards you in any of your past interviews nor when you spoke to him through the glass. But at the same time, anything can happen.

Taking a deep breath you scanned your key card and entered the room, letting the door click shut behind you. You rubbed your arms again. Somehow the air in the interview room was colder than it was out in the lab. You wished you could have brought in your hot coffee from earlier.

Ignoring your trembling steps you sat down in the metal chair across from SCP-049. And pressing the tape recorder you began.

-------

Date: XX/XX/XX

Interviewer: Dr. (F/N) (L/N)

Interviewee: SCP-049

"Hello SCP-049, how are you doing today?"

You were greeted with silence. SCP-049 stared down at his chained hands. His labored breathing sounding almost like a machine through his mask. Assuming it is a mask, the longer you watched him the more unsure you actually were. It seemed attached to him somehow.

You tapped the side of your clipboard. Your stomach felt like it was trying to devour itself. Taking a shaky breath you spoke up again.

"SCP-049?"

Silence... You bit the inside of your cheek. The silence lasted for an uncomfortable amount of time. Leaving you to be forced to stare at his lowered head, waiting for him to respond or at least acknowledge your presence.

"Here, if you are not feeling up to it we could move this interview to another time?"

Finally he lifted his head up slightly, enough to reveal his piercing golden eyes. They stood out from the shadows like balls of flame staring straight into your soul. They caused something from deep within you to panic. One look from him, and you were already fearing for your life.

Your heart thumped in your chest. Loud enough that you felt he could hear it too. You glanced at the door. If you ran now you could get away before he could reach you. Though there was always the panic button underneath the table, but you didn't want to risk another second if he decided to attack.

A few tense moment's slowly dragged by.

He let out a deep sigh and relaxed staring back down at his hands.

"No. I'm fine. My apologies," He finally spoke.

You studied his form the panic from earlier still lurking inside you. At the same time though, you could feel your brow furrow and the worry lines crinkle across your forehead. He was obviously distressed by something, but what? Was he not getting enough sleep? Now that you thought of it you had never seen him sleep. Even the night you had stayed late outside of his containment chamber. You had even stayed up late with him a few times after and still he never seemed to have any need for sleep.

You hoped that whatever it was, you weren't at fault.

You reread over the list of questions you were supposed to ask him. All of them proved to be possibly helpful to the foundation, but the repetitive questions always seemed to upset him after a while.

You glancing up at the one way mirror, you decided to put aside your assigned questions. Dr. Ogami still wasn't here.

"If I can ask, what is making you upset?"

He shook his head. "I'd rather not talk about it," though his words were abrupt, his tone was still soft.

"That's ok." Your eyes wandered the room. Nothing but white barren walls causing your voice to echo against them. "Is there anything that you like to do to feel better?"

He shifted in his seat. His chains rattling and scrapping against his chair. The silence followed while he thought. Originally you had thought that he took this silence to find the right words or check himself. But recently, you almost felt like it was another reason. Something else holding him back. "I suppose I generally reread my books. Occasionally someone will bring me Lavender as well."

You nodded. It was explained in his files that they give him lavender whenever he shows signs of aggression.

"What do you like to read?"

His shoulders relaxed and he gently leaned back in his chair. As if you were a mirror, you copied his actions. Your heart finally resting after the tense moment finally came to an end.

"I particularly enjoy my medical books. In fact, I still have some from long ago."

He gestured to his black doctor's bag attached to a dark sash around his waist. You nodded.

"How old are they?" You asked curious.

He paused for a moment as if trying to remember. "What year is it now?"

"It's 20XX"

"Hmmm" he hummed and stared down at his bag as if trying to see the books in question.

"My goodness, it would be at least a millennium. If I can remember correctly the book was written around the year 1079."

Your gut twisted. When they said that he was very outdated in his medicine they weren't kidding. You glanced down at the abandoned questions.

"Really? Were you around at that time?" You asked curious. Hoping to give the foundation some sort of information.

He let out a deep chuckle. "Oh my, no, no. These books are far older than myself." He paused for a few moments. "At least by a few hundred years or so."

"Oh, wow." You said trying to do the math in your head.

"Dr. L/N, please come up here now." A familiar voice called out from the intercom.

You turned and stared at the one-way glass. Very faint you could make out Dr. Ogami's short stature.

"Excuse me," you said grabbing your things and leaving the interview room.

Dr. Ogami was staring at you emotionless from the top of the stairs. His arms crossed with charcoal eyes peaking through his thick, circular glasses.

"You're done with the interview for the day. You can go back to the lab now. The guards will escort SCP-049 out."

"Oh, is something wrong?" You asked glancing back to ensure the door had shut and locked behind you.

"What do you think? You're done here, you have no business attempting to interact with that thing alone." He snapped at you and gestured to the interview room.

Your brow furrowed and you stared up at him in confusion. You had been doing just fine, so why did he feel the need to end your session? You had been afraid of doing it alone at first, but you didn't think you had a choice.

The pit in your stomach faded away leaving behind nothing but confusion and a wave of anger. On top of it all you wouldn't have had to do it alone if he had been here on time.

"I've made it this far. I think I can manage finishing my job," You spoke before thinking. The words coming out harsher than you had intended, although a part of you felt he deserved the tone. The look he gave you made you clamp your mouth shut.

"I said, NO. Now get going, I have more projects for you to do in there. I don't need another dead idiot to deal with,"

You flinched. His shoes clapped against the concrete stares. He passed you without a second glance and left you anxiously holding your clipboard to your chest.

-----

You sat back in the lab as you had been told. There was of course paperwork waiting there for you. Dr. Ogami came back and SCP-049 was placed back into his containment chamber.

The hours dragged by. Your hands had grown accustomed to the smoothe papers and the sound of your pen gliding against the sheets.

The edge from earlier had began to melt away, leaving you only the familiar headache and gaping hole in your stomach. Your attention was drawn away from your stomach when the clock beside you finally beeped. The day had already been horribly long, and its only lunch time.

---

Hurrying bodies flew past you on your way to the lunchroom. Grey, labeled suits caught your eye lining the walls and doorways. The facility's guards were constantly in motion, and alert. As if they were waiting for something. You hated the feeling that thought brought upon you. You didn't think that one scientists death was enough to cause all of this. Even as horrible of a death that Kayden had to endure. Also from what you understood deaths in this place were all too common, so for all these extra safety regulations you couldn't shake the ominous feeling.

The overwhelming smell of freshly cooked beans and rice hit you in the face. Along with the voices of at least 100 personnel mixing together creating white noise. You immediately regretted your decision to head to the lunch room.

"Hey you finally decided to show up!" A voice yelled forcing itself to surpass all the others.

"Hi Chloe," She was already at your side walking towards the food.

"Where have you been?? I haven't seen you in days!" She called over the crowds.

You shook your head, "I'm sorry, I've just been really busy." You explained.

"That's ok"

The interaction stayed brief, Chloe wasted no time to sit back down at her table full of friends. You hesitated before joining her. The blood rushed towards your face and ears. You wished there were places without being surrounded by unfamiliar faces. That's just life though. You suppose.

It's not that you particularly disliked other people, at the end of the day you cared for others and you wanted friends. It was time consuming though, and you were fine with just Chloe and Hadley. Sometimes.

____

The burrito went cold in your mouth. Apparently You had waited too long to eat it. Your face scrunched up at the feeling of cold beans and rice going down your throat. There were some foods that you were fine with eating cold, but apparently bean burritos were not one of them.

Before you knew it lunch came to an end with nothing out of the ordinary only Chloe exchanging stories of her SCP "adventures" while also asking others for theirs.

You checked the clock. You had to be leaving here soon. Surveying the room you took one last glance to see if you could find Hadley before you left. But nothing, she didn't come again.

You said your goodbye to Chloe before making your way out to journey back to the basement. Heading towards heavy containment was never got easier for you. The mixture of hallways becoming increasingly darker as well as the increase of security was never your favorite. It added a heaviness onto your shoulders that you couldn't explain.

"No! Please I don't want to go back in there, please!"

A tearful scream stopped you in your tracks. To your right a D-class was fighting against a couple of guards. The mans chains scrapped against one another while he frantically tried to pull away from the facility guards.

"Stop resisting, we are authorized to kill any disobedient D-class." The guard growled through his teeth.

By some miracle the D-class broke free from the guards hold and took off down the hall. Heading strait for you. The man had a frantic look in his eyes, he wasn't going to stop for anything. He clenched his jaw as he ran from the guards despite their warnings.

Without thinking twice you moved to the side, apparently too fast because the next thing you knew you had slammed against the wall squeezing your eyes shut. A loud bang made you flinch as well as a hard thud onto the grated floor. You dared to open your eyes again only to see a dead D-class beside you with crimson blood flowing from the fresh bullet wound on his back.

The guards, wasted no time to pull the D-class's body away. Leaving you stunned against the wall.

"Hey, could we get a clean up crew to sector D, outside of SCP-087's containment chamber?" One of the guards called over their walkie.

Just like that they were gone, the only evidence of the D-class existing was a pool of blood on the floor where he laid only moments before. Even still by the end of the day not even that will remain.

The thought gave you a bitter taste in your mouth while a heaviness weighed on your heart. You finally moved away from your wall and carefully maneuvered around the blood.

Refusing to look back at the scene behind you, you focused only on getting to the next elevator. The all too familiar feelings of doubt started to creep back under your skin. What am I doing here? I don't belong here. Every time you witnessed another death you had to fight against yourself to stay all over again. Sometimes you wished you could leave. But you also knew that you were on a contract, you had a purpose here. You couldn't leave.

You also had a feeling deep down that if you had ever expressed your want to leave. You dared to glance back at the blood spilled behind you. You might be next.

The next thing you knew you were face to face with the elevator. Not hesitating you started your way down.

----

Letting out a long sigh you sat down your bag back at your desk. Slumping down in your chair you buried your face into your hands.

Apparently you had walked right into a mess of a facility. Serves you right to ignore your intuition for a paycheck. That you technically didn't need. You had a decent job before. At a place the didn't reek with death, and unspeakable horrors.

As if needles were pricking down your spine and arms. The basement still had a insufferable chill in the air. It had only gotten worse since this morning. You wished you had brought down a jacket instead of trying to bring the thin lab coat closer to your body. The paperwork was waiting patiently for you on the desk. It seemed to never end. You closed your eyes for a moment embracing the darkness and silence surrounding you.

"You're back,"

The voice snapped your eyes back open.

"Yup," you held back a sigh, now your hands couldn't sit still. Your heart couldn't either. SCP-049 sat watching you from his chair. His back rested fully on the chair with his fingers tapping and tracing the table beside him.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine," he responded. A silence followed. "This morning was over earlier than usual,"

"Yea, I'm not sure why. Dr. Ogami was not very clear why he stopped it so early,"

SCP-049 hummed and focused back to his desk. You turned back to your own. Hoping to get something done. You were good at leaving things to be done much later in the day than you first intend to. Picking up your pen you started your work.

It didn't last long though before the familiar deep voice broke through your concentration.

"How are you fairing?"

Your breath caught in your throat. Your eyes met his, he's never bothered to ask you anything about your well being before. Let alone any of the foundation's personnel.

"I'm fine. Thank you," you finally replied. For a moment you had forgot about the chill in the air as well as the stack of work infront if you. A soft smile spread across your face. Your heart relaxing to a steady pulse.

Ever since you had started spending some if your nights working outside of SCP-049's containment chamber he has slowly become more cordial with you. Even still you kept your distance refusing to fall into trusting the entity, you couldn't let anything blind you from who he truly is. You've seen first hand what SCP's can do. He's in here for a reason, his documents more than prove that fact.

You watched SCP-049 pull out a large book from his bag. One if the books he had mentioned earlier no doubt. The night went on. The two of you speaking every once in a while. Majority if the night The two of you sat in silence, though the silence felt peaceful. Comfortable even. Almost making you forget what you saw today.

"SCP-049? What do you think if the foundation?" You asked. This was, of course a common question he had to answer in interviews. You could only imagine how redundant it must be by now, but you wanted a different opinion. Other than that of the foundation's personnel who were almost always on camera.

"I suppose it's fine. A hindrance. But fine in the sense that there is very little traces of the pestilence."