You couldn't do this anymore. You thought as you paced back and forth in front of the dark wooden table. Not the same way that you had for so long. It had worked for you as a child. Rolling over and letting everyone else make the mistakes that you were too scared to make. You thought glaring down at the golden key card sitting on the table. You could still hear that poor horse's cries... It was only a few hours ago yet you felt as if it might as well have been happening now.

Just twenty minutes ago your father told you that he was happy with you... That he was happy that you even tried to interact with an SCP like that. Reminding you that it wasn't like you to act in such a way. Telling you that next time... Next time you could even try to go a step forward. You felt an intense weight on your heart... Feeling serrated claws digging into your flesh as you looked back on your life, your decisions, and the place you found yourself in now. With that in mind you switched to the people around you. Pushing yourself aside you paced as you recalled every tortured SCP you saw in this place... Every cruel experiment that went on that began to fuel an old fire inside that had been stomped out for years.

You couldn't run from this or wait in the background until it resolved itself as you had in the past. Because you knew that this time, others would pay the price. Throughout your life you never tried to be confrontational or put up a huge fight over something especially when it feels so much bigger than you. But today, something switched inside you. You couldn't just do nothing, not this time. Definitely not this time, if you could actually be able to help take away someone or something's pain you would do it. And before today... You never actually believed you could. You never believed that you could do anything more than what was placed in front of you. You didn't want to ruin something else, so you stayed silent and kept your hands to yourself.

But you were able to protect that horse. If only for a moment. You didn't realize it at the time as you were trying to stay on your father's good side. But now looking back you realized what you did. Not only did you stand up to your father in a way you never had before, but you helped the horse. Even if it only lasted a few minutes you provided a new way to keep the horse from feeling the pain your father was determined to inflict.

You knew what you had to do but you weren't completely sure how, but you were aware of the foreseeable consequences. The thought still scared you but there was a part of you that began to scream louder than your fear. You've never had to sit through an innocent creature being tortured like that before. It was singed in your brain deeper than the deaths that you had witnessed in the past. At least then... You felt as if you were in a somewhat respectable and ethical facility. But here. It was far far from that. As you said you wanted no part of this and as you suspected your father didn't care. But today, this time you wanted it to be different. Because before, growing up under his control only hurt you.

And just knowing what your father put the creature through, you couldn't imagine what they had put SCP-049 through. Your fingers stayed steady as you picked up the card. Squeezing it in your hand slightly. From what you had noticed. It only didn't work yesterday because you angered your father but today, he was happy. Proud even. And he went to bed at 7 as he did every night you had stayed here.

You trembled slightly. It should give you plenty of time. To at least get some kind of plan. To at least try. You couldn't sit here as you did last night. It was as if something had switched within you. And in a way that switched turned the moment you saw SCP-049 in one of those horrible collars. Then you still were recovering from your own torture, and earlier pushed you over the edge the longer you went without doing anything other than just postponing the abuse the more you knew you needed to do something else.

Turning away from the table you walked back to your door, a determined look covering your hint of fear lingering in the back of your mind. Trying the door again, as you thought the door unlocked opening into the luxurious hallway. Silent, you crept out of your room glancing over towards your father's room as if expecting him to immediately come bursting from the door.

After a moment you shut your door behind you and made your way towards the elevator. Keeping your footsteps silent through the living room and finally making it to the hallway. Clicking the button, you called the elevator. You picked absentmindedly at your sleeve as you waited. Pushing the thought of your trip going wrong out if your mind.

Finally, the elevator dinged. Opening up to force you to nearly jump out of your skin. Catching your breath, you stepped close enough to the elevator to see it again. A tall black figure waited silently inside. Large clumps of black dripped on the floor in front of you.

Hesitantly you met its black eyes. It didn't move only stared at you as if anticipating for you to make a move instead. As much as you hated it, you might need to trust your father when he explained that SCP-106 didn't mean you any harm. Taking a deep breath, you slowly stepped into the elevator. Standing uncomfortably close to the creature staring down at you.

It did nothing. Only stood waiting for its next instruction. You turned your attention to the control panel. It only had three buttons. Two going back down to the lab floors, and another that was unlabeled. Only having a red dot beside it. You furrowed your brow. Your father never told you about that floor during his tour.

Where did it lead? And why were you not told about it? Especially if your father wanted you to be a huge part in his experiment. Maybe it had your ticket out. You reached your hand out for it despite the fact that your brain told you not to get ahead of yourself and gamble too much. You were inches away from pressing the button when there was a low growl beside you followed by a dark slimy hand reaching for you. You jumped back avoiding SCP-106's touch. It nearly swatted you with its hand and its goop on the floor began to gurgle again. The dark floor growing closer to you threatening you with a second trip to his dimension.

Once you were away from the button he relaxed going back to his corner. Now you were even more curious. But saying that you were stuck in an elevator with a dangerous creature who obviously didn't want you to press the button. You held off on that for now. So instead you went for a different button. Your next plan for tonight. You reached out to press the lab right below you, and thankfully SCP-106 showed no resentment.

--------

The room was smaller than you remembered. With glass cages seeming to have doubled in just a few days. You could only assume that the extra chambers were for the large load of SCP's your father talked about. Turning away from the new additions you climbed the stairs, the needles growing sharper in your stomach. You had no idea what you were getting into, and honestly you could think of many ways that this could go very wrong. At the same time, you had to know. You wanted to make sure he was ok the second you woke up in this facility.

Before you moved to the stairs, you had explored the lab a second time. Searching for any sort of exit or anything that could help you. Unfortunately, there was nothing, nothing but that high window above you. It was way too high for you to get to though, the wall beneath it was flat with nothing that you could climb on to get even close to the window.

Finishing your ascent, you turned to the last place you saw him and began looking through the glass doors. Glancing inside one your stomach pinched and your heartbeat began to race. You found him again. He was in the same room as before, still trapped within the same invisible circle. Your face fell as you thought about how horrible it must be to be stuck in a small circle where your choices were only stand or sit. He chose to sit on his knees, facing away from the door this time.

Taking another deep breath, you unlocked the door with your key card. Your eyes widening to see that it worked here as well. You looked up towards him in time to see him stiffen at the sound of the door opening. His breathing picking up as he stayed silent. He seemed to be waiting for something. Your stomach fell at the inclinations of his noticeable stress.

Before you spoke you glanced around the room. It was empty. Only pure white walls and another observation lab elevated slightly above the terribly small containment chamber. If it could even be considered a containment chamber. Knowing the two of you were alone you began.

"SCP-049?"

A wave of anger towards your father struck again. As you stared at the tortured person before you. You wanted to do something to somehow take away that pain.

"Are you ok?" You asked. Knowing the answer yet you still asked anyway.

At your voice, his head moved glancing back towards you his eyes were dull and angry. Lacking the confident serenity that they used to hold. It was as if he was mentally recovering from something. You frowned further, knowing full well what that something was. It made the needles stab your heart. He stayed silent just staring at you, not knowing what to do you took a step forwards and closed the door behind you.

"Can I do anything for you?" You tried again.

Carefully, he stood up in his small circle he turned towards you. You looked up at him as he stood above you looking into his eyes your face softened. In moments of staring at you the anger fully faded in his eyes. You stood there in silence not knowing what to say or do. All you knew was now all that was left in his eyes was the pain you witnessed before. You swallowed, the empathetic pain from seeing him like this singed your neck and heart. Burning any part of you that could be a reflection of his pain.

There was nothing but silence between the two of you. A minute went on in utter silence. If it was with anyone else you might have felt uncomfortable, but in this situation, it had no malice or misunderstanding. At first, the silence made you more concerned but the way he looked at you wasn't too much unlike he had before. It was familiar, you just never fully paid attention to it until now. But this time, it held more emotion than you were used to from him. And the longer the moment went on the more you were pulled back to your own trauma as if you were both telling your own ends to the same story. His eyes revealing the torture he experienced from the scientists here as well of something untold. An unspoken story that he had yet to tell. While yours reflected your past, and how it had come back to haunt you. You reflected your injuries and torture that were no longer physical but permanently scarred in your spirit. You blinked faster fighting back the tears trying to escape from behind your eyes. At the end of the day you didn't know SCP-049 very well. But at that moment, you understood him completely.

The moment lasted for a couple minutes. Just silence with a mixture of pain and comfort.

Finally, he spoke, his voice quieter than you remember.

"Can you take down the barrier?"

You flinched at the question. The moment beginning to fade away. Not only were you unsure of how to take it down but you also didn't know what you two would do after. You didn't see many scientists left in the lab but there were plenty of guards. And without a plan. You hated what you were unsure of. He was in pain though... So, was it worth it? But if you messed this up, chances were you wouldn't get another chance. You pondered how you should respond.

"I-" you looked back up into his eyes. "I don't know," your eyebrows lowered at the sudden exhaustion in his expression. "I'm sorry, i- under the circumstances I'm under, I am still figuring out a way to successfully do so. But soon." Your voice became a whisper at that last sentence.

He stared hard at you before speaking again,

"how soon?"

You shook your head uncertainly. Not wanting to lie to him but still wanting to take away that hopelessness in his eyes. "I don't know for sure, but I will find a way. I promise." You held back an expression at that last sentence, you didn't make promises often. Only when you knew that you could keep them. And in this case, you were definitely going to try.

You couldn't read his expression, so you continued. "But, until then. I can help you in any way I can."

The longer you spoke the more determined you felt to help. At this point you didn't care how dangerous he is, or even the foundation's opinion of your actions. No one deserved to go through this. Especially not him. Not after what he'd done for you or what you had seen from him. You had seen a side to him that you refused to let anyone diminish. Including your father.

He studied you to the point that you began to feel nervous under his gaze. Worried that he didn't believe you. You had too many feelings at once to know fully which to show and which to hide.

After a few tense moments his eyes relaxed and his postured shifted to one that calmed your uneasiness. "Alright." The weakness evident in his voice made your eyes begin to water more making it difficult not to break down.

"Is there anything else I could do to help you?" You asked, swallowing to keep the tears from your voice. You hoped that there was at least something you could do to help at all.

He shook his head no for a moment. Before looking back at your expression. Slowly he sat back down on his knees.

"I am, cold I believe."

"You believe?"

He shifted slightly, "it's been a long time. But yes."

"Umm, ok." you said scanning the room for anything you could use. You had never heard him complain about temperature before. Even in his containment chamber at the foundation. It was freezing in the basement sometimes, yet he showed no reaction.

You looked around the room a bit and unsurprisingly there were no blankets or jackets that you could use to help. It was empty, only holding controls that you weren't sure how to use or what they did. Walking back to SCP-049's side you picked at your sleeve as you approached until you realized you did have one thing. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing.

Unbuttoning your long lab coat, you slipped it off revealing your black long sleeved shirt underneath.

"Would this help?"

He looked back up at you, his eyes traveling to the coat in your hand.

"It's not very big, but at least it's something," you smiled at his expression. His eyes widened slightly without a word he nodded staying in place.

Moving forwards, you studied the barrier, your father did say that they were safe to touch. So, with that in mind you reached out your hand to test the invisible field. As you hoped your hand passed through unharmed. Walking through you found yourself standing over him filling up the rest of his small space. You frowned at the collar around his neck. It was horrible to think about... You pushed the thought aside reminding yourself that it wouldn't be long. You hoped.

You opened your jacket and tried to cover his shoulders and arms the best you could with it. You weren't sure how much it would help, you hoped it would at least a little. Your fingers brushed against his leather coat; it did feel colder than usual. He usually did have a chill to him. But the more you paid attention the more you could swear you felt a warmth radiating from underneath his thick leather. As you stretched your coat over his shoulders you heard his breathing hitch. Looking back up again you realized why. Your arms were draped around his shoulders in some sort of loose hug from behind. Feeling your face heat up slightly you backed away fearing that you had crossed a hidden boundary with him.

"I'm sorry..."

You barely got a step away before his hand gently grabbed your wrist. Your heart raced and you froze in place unsure of how to respond. His eyes widened as if his own response startled him as well. He calmed quickly though. Letting your wrist slide away.

"It's... Fine. There's no need to apologize." He said looking away. "You may stay though. If you'd like." He offered, putting his hands in his lap. His voice seemed to be coming back slowly. Though, the longer you listened to his tired voice the longer you swear you could pick up traces of a French accent.

You studied him for a minute trying to tell what he meant by stay there. Like in the room or- You got your answer when he scooted away from you making a little room in his circle.

Your face stayed warm as you shyly sat back down next to him just close enough that your arms would occasionally brush. You sat on your right side with your legs loosely bent on the other side of your body. Halfway inside the circle with your legs and hip outside. Sitting in a way that would give him the most room as possible as to not drive him any closer to the wall of the barrier.

Your eyes drifted over to his hand where there was a slight mark on his glove. It looked as if it was once a burn. From the barrier you assumed. It made your heart break and your need to find the way to at least get him out of this cage increased.

"Are you in any pain?" You finally asked, you felt a little better when he shook his head no.

"Not right now,"

You nodded.

"Do you have a plan?" He finally asked after a moment of silence. His voice was back now but he still spoke in a lowered voice.

You sighed, "No... Not yet, but I have an idea," you explained thinking back to that extra button on the elevator. "But no definite plan. And we are going to need one if we want to get out of here in one piece."

He looked down at you and cocked his head to the side slightly, "that's new."

"What's new?"

"You're so willing to take me with you." He explained.

Your brow furrowed not expecting that to come out of him.

"If I recall correctly when we were still back at the facility you wanted nothing but to escape me." You flinched, remembering how obvious you probably were. "Even when we were at the gate you still seemed as if you were trying to run."

You looked away from him knowing that every part of that was true. Running was your default... Most of the time. You felt bitter inside with that fact knowing full well where it began and the consequences that it led to. It helped you survive, get past your father, surviving at the SCP foundation, running from others who could help you and so much more. You survived alright, but you never lived.

You wanted to ignore that thought and continue on as you always had but there was an unforeseen strength that flickered in you to stay put. At least once.

"Yes. I know. It's just... A habit." You admitted. Uncomfortable with talking about it much further.

"Hmm."

"But it doesn't matter at the moment..." You tried to change the subject ignoring insecurities that were bubbling up inside you. "We probably should be thinking of a plan."

"Do you know where all the exits are?"

"Umm..." You hesitated thinking back to the tour. Your father actually left out where any of the exits were only the labs, cages and the mansion within. "I know there is a window. But it's too high up and it doesn't look like it can be opened."