Retrograde Motion [SCP X Reader]

Chapter 14: Flutter

"MOSTLY... RESEARCHERS... ALMOST... LATE... LAST... TIME."

You hummed. "It has been a while since I've last seen you, hasn't it?"

"YES... ALMOST... A... MONTH?"

"That long, huh." Somehow the time seemed both longer and shorter than that. Then, again, you were never particularly good at keeping track. Though, if you counted the time from when you died, it may have added an hour or so.

"YOU... WELL... TOO?"

"Uhhh." You thought back to the things that had happened since the breach. You lived and you died, you lived again, you died again. Some deaths were more horrifying than others, some quick, some less so. Were you well? "Sure."

The swarm shifted, agitated. "IF... YOU... SAY... SO."

You huffed at their response, only faux annoyed. You couldn't believe 408 was sassing you for only kind of lying. How cheeky of them. You could hardly be blamed for situations beyond your control. Ah, that reminded you, what were you doing here?

"Do you know why they called me so urgently here now?" you asked the swarm.

"I... HAVE... IDEA... WHY," they spelled out. "WANT... YOU... TO... MEET..."

Oh, you had a bad feeling about this. As the 408s spelled out the last word, the door to the containment chamber opened. You turned your head. A man, quite tall, wearing a brown hat and a jacket (not a lab coat). In one hand was a camera, connected to a strap around his neck. His eyes were green just like in Portraits of Your Father. Ah. Standing across from you was one (basically) of the four horsemen of the apocalypse himself, Dr. Kondraki.

"KONDRAKI."

Well.

The good news was that you knew for certain he was alive now. No more plausible deniability, no more guessing, no more pretending. Mentally, you retconned the last part. Still pretending, just pretending everything was fine and that meeting people was not going to mess your plans up. This was fine, you were fine or maybe you were going to be fine.

You kind of wished you stayed dead the first time around if only to avoid meeting them.

"Oh. It's you," you found yourself saying before you could really think about it. Great first impression, you were sure.

"Heard of me?" Kondraki replied. The door closed behind him, leaving you trapped with 408 and their favourite person.

You hummed. A few butterflies landed on your head like a crown. "You're rather infamous."

"That so."

"Yup." Great talk, could you leave yet?

"So," you prompted, "what are you doing here?"

Kondraki shrugged and stepped away from the door. "I was curious who caught 408's attention."

"Makes sense seeing as how you are the King of the Butterflies." Wait no, the "official" title was different. "Or booooterflies, I suppose."

Provoking him was probably not the best idea you could have come across but let it be said that you were never one for good ideas. You could see how he shifted, turning a little more alert at your words. You. A threat. Back home, you would have never been seen as such.

'That's right,' your words taunted, 'I've seen your personnel file.'

Just what was the extent that you knew?

"408 probably just likes me because I gave them food during the breach," you said after a moment of silence. "How did they end up all the way at Site-19 anyway if they're contained here?"

"I was visiting Site-19, a few of them must have slipped away while I was there." He fiddled with his camera. You mulled over his answer. 408 was known to be mischievous when hungry so it made enough sense.

"M'kay," you agreed. "Why'd you agree to see me?"

The doctor gave you a look. "What if I came here of my own volition?"

"Please, you're not exactly known to be social, you know."

He mockingly rolled his eyes and said, "So you know all about me. What are you, a pretend god who lost their powers or something?"

"Hilarious," you drawled. "I've already told them I'm not omnipotent. I know possibilities, potential events, possible outcomes. There are always things that will remain the same, some things that shift and change. It just depends on which choice is your favourite."

"So you're telling me you don't have blackmail."

"Quite the opposite, I think I have too much blackmail. Most of it is, ah, more likely to be emotionally scarring or bring up trauma than cause embarrassment though. Some other things can't really be used as blackmail because they've never happened." Absentmindedly, you added, "Things like bottle d*ck."

"Like what?" Kondraki looked at you incredulously.

You hummed noncommittally. Well, it was kind of nice to know that hadn't happened (yet) in this universe maybe? It was definitely lower on things that might have happened but at least you could cross it off the list now. "Don't worry too much about it. You'll just drive yourself into the ground if you do."

"You're talking to the wrong person and you're at the wrong place if you think no one will overthink things."

"Right right, mister paranoid about everything."

408, who had been relatively quiet since Kondraki arrived, shifted and began to rearrange themselves to say something.

"YOU... KONDRAKI... GETTING... ALONG?"

"Uh... kind of?" You weren't really sure what constituted as "getting along" in this context. "408, I really don't know what counts as getting along in this situation."

"They're okay, at best," Kondraki said right after.

"I was expecting more murder actually."

"I was thinking about it on the way here."

"Oh really?" you still answered despite knowing it sounded more like a joke.

"YOU... WOULD... HAVE... BEEN... FINE."

"From your point of view, maybe," you retorted.

"Just because I didn't kill you, doesn't mean other people won't. Like that bastard Clef."

You chuckled. That would be another can of worms you didn't want to open quite yet. "I'll be looking forward to it then."

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New SCPs in this chapter:

N/A

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Published: February 28, 2022

Word count: 2,146

Death Counter: 12

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I got sick (not Covid, probably just stress) last week lol but I also managed to write like a quarter of the chapter in one day just before that. I'm feeling better now so no worries. Thanks for reading!