Chapter Text
Nyte hauled their bag down a ledge as they climbed down.
It had been almost 9 years.
Nyte had been living with Kristen for almost 9 years since his family went missing. Kristen had found him in rubble, under what used to be a house at just 3 years old. Kristen said everyday that his family had just, “went on a trip”. Though Nyte had started to notice early that it seemed to pain her to speak about it.
Nyte seemed to snap out of his thoughts as his bag wiggled, quickening his pace down, remembering the fact he had brought his cat Artemis with him, his feet touching the floor as he rushed over to the bag picking it up and opening the top.
“Sorry Arty!! I was zoned out for a second-” Nyte said softly as he put the bag back onto his back, and continued on his adventure. “Just a little bit longer and then we can turn back ok? Kristen said to be back before dinner!!”
The leaves on the ground crunched as Nyte walked along a trail. He was right, Kristen had told him to be back before dinner so that he didn’t get lost walking back in the dark. It took Nyte 30 minutes to even convince her to let him leave the house alone, Kristen only agreeing if he brought Artemis along with him. Which he agreed to. In Kristen's defense, she hadn’t have wanted a 9 year old wandering the woods alone
Nytes' footsteps slowed to a stop as he sorta froze, he was confused- He wanted to continue on his walk but his feet physically wouldn’t move. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up- why was he all of a sudden frozen? He was one of the most adventurous kids ALIVE (in Kristen's opinion), having taken after his father.
Nyte looked around, he was being watched, he knew it. There had to be no other way-
SNAP
Nyte whipped his head around to see the noise, but saw nothing except a clearing, a strange clearing. Nyte felt his bag shift and then tiny footsteps. Looking down at his feet he saw Artemis had somehow hopped out of the bag and was now walking towards the clearing, the grey-haired bengal stalked towards the noise, like he sensed something he just couldn’t see.
“Arty-” Nyte whispered quickly, following Artemis from behind not wanting to lose his cat. “Where are you goin-” Nyte abruptly cut himself off and ducked behind a tree and a few bushes at the sound of footsteps.
Nyte pulled his hood over his head, the dark fabric covering his black hair as he peaked out, it sounded like multiple footsteps, three sounded quick while one sounded slow, like they were watching more than following. There were voices as they ran into the clearing.
“HALT!!, YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY THAT EASILY!!” One of the voices yelled, the man had blackish blue hair, tied into a really loose braid, he was wearing black gear, it seemed like some guard attire. He was carrying a sword, he was the one in the front, the others followed from behind
“HES TO QUICK SIR!!” Another voice shouted, his voice sounded deeper, and British? No- it was dutch? The man had white hair to about his ears, it looked fluffy from where Nyte was hiding, and for what he could see through the opening in the bushes. He seemed to be wearing the same attire as the other two, but he had a weird jester-like mask covering his face.
“JUST GRAB HIM ALREADY!! HE CAN’T FLY YET!!” The other yelled, this one sounded around in his early 20’s? He seemed to have purple hair tied to a braid down to his ankles. He had a tranquilizer dart gun in his left hand.
The one that seemed to be running from them had blonde hair, he was wearing what seemed to be white clothes, Nyte didn’t know why but he felt like he recognized the man, he didn’t know why. The man had black wings on his back, and man were they massive. They were folded behind him but they were pretty damn large. He seemed to be in his early-mid 30’s.
Nyte watched as the three ran into the clearing. Hesitantly peeking out from behind the bush, trying to get a better look at the man before pulling back immediately spotting someone else walking by. Nyte froze, seeming to recognize the man. It was Sam, the old warden for the prison that was blown up years ago. Why was he here now?
Sam walked into the clearing, Nyte watched as the three men managed to hold the blonde man down. His arms trapped behind his back, Nyte snuck closer to the clearing as he watched Sam ball up his fist and decked the man on the floor across the face.
“Did you really think that would work this time, P-1z45? You should’ve know we are always 10 steps ahead of you all, and I thought you would’ve taken T-ec420 and the others with you as well, guess I was wrong.” Sam crouched down to P-1z45’s height. The man only smirked back at Sam.
“You don’t need to know anything Sam. I did it for a reason.” The man spat back with annoyance. Earning him a kick in the stomach.
P-1z45 doubled over in pain at the kick, making a pained noise as he took a second to recover.
“Clown, Jayden. Pull him up.” Sam commanded, the white-haired man and the black-haired man nodded and lifted him up, Sam standing up and staring to the man
Sam grabbed the blonde by the back of his hair and yanked it back, earning a pained gasp from him as he cursed under his breath.
“Alright lets head back. Wemmbu make sure that the other security at the base makes sure to lock up where this one broke out.” Sam said, straightening up and glancing at the purple-haired boy, who nodded and took out his radio to talk to whoever.
As the small group headed back, Nyte watched until they were out of sight. Standing up and brushing himself off, looking at the sky and noticing that it was starting to get to sunset.
“Shit” Nyte muttered, he should be heading back now. He started on the walk back before stopping, where was Artemis? Nyte snapped his head around, he couldn’t go back. Not without his cat. Nyte felt his heart quicken in his chest as he started panicking. Artemis was no more than 4 months old, where could the kitten have wandered to?
Nyte walked over to the clearing again, before seeing Artemis sitting where the men had been standing, except there was a crow in front of him, Nyte walked over quickly, gently picking up Artemis who didn’t seem to show any form of struggle, seeming to melt into Nyte as he was placed back in the back. Nyte glanced down at the crow, it seemed to be staring up at Nyte as if he knew him. The crow flew up and perched on Nytes head, seeming content in sitting there.
Nyte was confused but didn’t question it. Walking back into the tree line all Nyte could think of was, how was he going to explain to Kristen what he saw?
—----------------------------------------------------Timeskip-----------------------------------------------------------
Nyte stumbled out of bed, he was groggily as he went to the door. Lazily pulling on one of his shirts and fixing his pants, tying it into a messy bow as he stumbled into the hallway, Artemis followed shortly from behind, hopping up on Nytes shoulders as he started down the hallway to the stairs, Nyte was particularly excited for today, why? He was turning 11!! It was his big day, he had been excited about his birthday all week, eagerly helping Kristen pick out colors for a cake.
The smell of pancakes flooded his nose as he walked into the kitchen, spotting Kristen by the stove. Nyte practically skipped over to her, placing his hands on the counter next to the plates and smiling up at Kristen as she looked down at him.
“Happy birthday my crazy adventurer.” Kristen hummed out as she switched the spatula into her left hand, bringing the other to pat Nyte's hair.
“Thanks Mumza!!” Nyte replied, his voice filled with excitement as he practically bounced from where he was standing. “It's the day! It's the day!!”
“It is kiddo..” Kristen smiled softly at the boy, she placed the pancakes on a plate and placed it onto the table, watching as Nyte scrambled over and sat on the chair, Artemis hopping down from the boys shoulder and walking over to his food bowl to eat.
Nyte started eating his pancakes, in his opinion Mumza's pancakes tasted the best in the world!! Nothing could compare to it. Nyte seemed to think of something his thoughts wandering allowed as he quickly finished his plate.
“Mumza… do you think my dad will visit this year?” Nyte looked over to where Kristen was eating her own pancakes, she seemed to freeze up at the question.
“Well, kiddo.. Your dad is still missing” She replied softly, her thoughts wandering on how to change the subject as soon as she saw Nyte's face drop, she clasped her hands together after a moment. “Oh! How about you go on your little adventure? You haven’t gone on one in a couple years, after the-” she coughed quietly. “Crow incident.”
Nytes face lit up, he could go on one of his trips? He hasn’t been on one, since- oh. The memory ran in Nytes head, he remembered the man, Sam and a couple others dragging him off. Nyte hopped off from his chair, he hadn’t told Mumza about that, just said he tripped and that's why he was late, But there was NO WAY he was going to pass up an opportunity like this.
“I’ll go get ready!!” Nyte beamed as he ran upstairs to get ready.
After about 10 minutes Nyte ran back downstairs, he threw on one of his clean shirts, some blue sweat pants, and a beanie that had a crown stitch. It was a hat Mumza had said his father made him for when he got older. After a bit of talking, going back and forth about safety- Nyte stepped outside giving his last wave to Mumza before he and Artemis set out on their adventure.
After about 5 hours of walking Nyte reached a clearing, it was the clearing. The once from all those years ago… Nyte looked around, before his eyes landed on a trail. It looked old, like it was hidden from people's view because they weren’t supposed to go that way. The massive “Do Not Enter” sign confirmed that. Was Nyte about to listen to a random sign when his curiosity just spiked? Hell no.
Nyte jogged over to the trail, pushing away a few leaves and branches, before hesitantly walking down the trail. Artemis had gotten back into the bag, his small head poking out as Nyte continued on his journey. It took Nyte almost 20 minutes of walking before he reached a fence, he tried to pull it open only to find it locked, Nyte huffed looking along the fence line, somehow finding a small gap under it. It seemed small enough to get through, he’d just have to push the bag through it.
Nyte walked over to the small gap, crouching down and shrugging off his bag, gently pushing it through the gap, making sure Artemis’s fur didn’t get caught on the loose wire, after he did that he gently wiggled his small body under the gate, hauling himself up he put his bag back on his shoulders, petting Artemis’s fur so that he knew he was ok. Nyte then walked more along the trail, at some point he reached another clearing, however it was made of stone, like there was something underneath. Nyte heard voices and quietly snuck over to them, soon spotting two figures in the distance.
“I don’t understand why we are doing this-” The brunette muttered as he walked alongside a pink-haired girl, who seemed to be taking notes on a clipboard. The two stopped at a tree, it seemed different than the others, Nyte noticed its leaves seemed more fake than the others. More darker, and definitely more blue than green.
“I understand that Wil, but it's our job! Now come on, we have to give the boss the reports ok?” The girl replied as she pulled out a keycard, she handed the brunette, Wil, the clipboard as she swiped her card on a keypad.
Nyte hadn’t noticed the keypad since it seemed to blend in with the tree almost perfectly. The ground slightly shook as the floor in front of the duo lifted up, Nyte watched with amaze as it seemed as the floor just revealed an entrance, the duo walked inside and Nyte quietly followed, just making it before the door shut behind him. He looked around and saw a ramp that seemed as if it went a while down. For at least 5 minutes, Nyte waited for a little while as the duo disappeared behind a corner before making his way down. The lights above bothered him a bit but it was fine for now.
He came to a stop at the bottom, peering around the corner as he saw hallways, it looked like some sort of foundation. Rooms lined the halls, research halls it seemed. Nyte looked the other way and saw a few people. It was the duo from earlier!! But there were two other people? One seemed to be a bit younger than Nyte, probably around 9, he was holding the brunette's hand, something was odd that stood out to Nyte, it seemed as if the boy had ears? Not human ears, some sort of fox ears, the other man, the one talking to the brunette, had brown hair himself, he couldn’t see it but it looked like the man had glasses on? Ok-
Nyte managed to walk forward, down a different hall. It seemed as if he walked forever before he heard some shouting. What's going on? Nyte thought as he followed the noise. Making it down the hall before seeing a guard get YEETED past him. Nyte snapped his head in the direction of the throw, his eyes widening at the sight.
There were two people fighting off a handful of guards. He recognized one of them as that crow guy from two years ago. The person next to him had pink hair, tied into a tight braid that seemed to reach his ankles, both of them were fighting off the guards together. Almost as if they had done this before? At some point during the fight Sam had appeared, shooting both men with some strange liquid, they both passed out almost instantly.
Nyte was frozen in shock, terrified after seeing that. It wasn’t until Sam looked in his direction that he realized he was standing in the middle of the hallway, perfectly visible. It seemed as if Sam did a double take at seeing him.
“Why is there a child in the foundation?” Sam muttered to himself as he cautiously approached the kid. Holding up his hands to seem not as threatening. “Hey ya there kiddo- how did you get down here?”
“I-i- Well ya see-” Nyte stampered as he stared at Sam, hesitantly stepping back as the adult walked closer. “I got l-lost-”
“Lost? Well I can help with that.. Just follow me ok? I’m not going to hurt you..” Sam stepped closer, slowly reaching for something behind his back. Nyte noticed and realized immediately. Turning on his feet and sprinting back down the hallway.
“Hey! Kid, wait!!” Sam yelled, seeing a kid take off down the hall of a SCP foundation wasn’t on his bucket list right now, he sprinted after the kid, grabbing his radio and turning it on. “I need everyone near the exit of the foundation to block it off immediately!! There's a kid running loose!”
At the exit, Wil seemed to hear the radio and grabbed it, quickly turning it on as he spoke. “Kid? There's a child in the foundation???” Wilbur was stunned, he turned to the girl beside him. “Niki- I think the kid followed us in-”
Niki immediately looked up from her paper, almost stunned that Wilbur would say that before hearing two pairs of footsteps, she turned her head just as she saw a child and Sam run past, heading to the exit. She dropped her paper as her and Wilbur seemed to know something was wrong and started in that direction. However, they were stopped by the brunette they had been talking to the entire time.
“Hold on now, I’ll go handle it, both of you have work to do, don’t you?” The man said as Niki looked sheepishly to the side.
“But Eret-”
“No. I can handle it, go on now.” Eret replied, a soft smile on his lips before he followed where Sam and the kid ran off.
Niki and Wilbur gave each other a glance before Wilbut guided the kid he was with in a different direction. “Come on Fundy, lets get going”
After about 15 minutes of running Nyte could see the clearing in the distance, he was terrified what would happen to him if he got caught so he had to get away and fast. Nyte ran over to the small gap in the fence and pushed the bag through, before starting to go under himself. He almost reached the end before he felt a foot on his ankle, he looked down to see Sam had caught up to him, another man showing up behind.
Nyte struggled, scared what would happen if he got taken back, his mind was telling him over and over to find Mumza, to get her to help. But then Nyte realized something was terribly wrong, he could barely get a word out before feeling his leg get yanked back roughly, the last thing he felt was something sharp across his skin- and then black.
—----------------------------------------------------Timeskip-----------------------------------------------------------
Nyte woke up to black, where was he? He felt like he couldn’t talk, his neck felt sore and he couldn’t tell why, not to mention his right eye hurt. He heard footsteps enter the room and he groaned in pain, the footsteps stopped and he heard muffled voices and then something was taken off his eyes, he was blinded by the lights for a second. Was he in a basement?
He was immediately met with the eyes of Sam. Who seemed just as concerned why Nyte was here as he was. Suddenly a voice piped up from the doorway.
“Finally the kid is awake.” The brunette man that had been following Sam stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. “I thought he was dead”
“Bright observation Eret,” Sam snapped at the man, standing back up from where he had been sitting a moment earlier. “I don't get why we had to tie the kid up, he looks no more than 10.”
“He managed to get into a highly secret foundation. That's why.” Eret responded, acting as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Now kid, I need to ask you some stuff alright? Then we can bring ya home” It was the way in his tone that made Nyte feel uneasy.
Nyte nodded quietly and Eret sat down on a stool in front of him, Sam stepping out of the room to keep watch. The man grabbed a small index card with some notes.
“What is your first name?”
“N-N…yte”
Eret seemed to write it down, It hurt to speak but Nyte just had to get through this.. Then he could go home.
“Your last name?”
“S…oot”
Eret seemed to make a face Nyte couldn’t name, it was as if the man felt burned by the name. Suddenly a voice appeared in Nyte's head, almost as if someone was speaking to him, he felt as if the voice was familiar, but how?
“Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?”
“Hello….?”
“Hi Kid, look I don’t have much time, where are you?
Nyte didn’t know why but he felt compelled to answer truthfully.
“A basement....?”
“A basement? Ok um, Is there anyone there with you?”
“Mhmm, some guy named Eret? Sam stepped out-”
“. . .”
“Hello?”
“Just answer what Eret wants ok? It’ll be ok.. I promise”
“I.. I wanna go home”
“I know kid, I know, just trust me ok?”
“Who are you?”
“Call me Philza"
Before Nyte could respond a hand snapped in front of his face, jolting him from his thoughts, he stared at Eret.
“Kid, I'm not done.” Eret said, his tone seemed like it was trying to mask as gentle, but he could practically hear the annoyance.
“S-Sorr…y”
“Which part of the woods do you live in?”
“Wes…t..”
“How old are you?”
“.....11”
“That's quite young, um, what's your parents name?”
“My… Gr..anma… Is cal..led Mumza”
“No father? Mother?”
Nyte shook his head.
“Alright thank you for the answers kiddo,” Eret stood up from the stool, placing the paper of answers into a folder, he walked across the room and placed the folder on a table. Nyte saw him pick something up.
“Can… I go… ho…me? Now?” Nyte stopped talking as Eret turned around, he was holding a syringe, it had a weird glowing liquid in it. It looked white but also gray at the same time.
“No no, I have something more interesting to do,” Eret walked over, grabbing one of Nyte's wrists as he held it up, Nyte struggled almost immediately.
“L-let, me, g-g..o!!” He yelled as he tried to pull away from Eret's grip, he seemed to only tighten more. Nyte was so scared he didn’t know what else to do except yell. He thought back to the voice in his head, now or never right?
“HELLO?!?! HELLO?! HELP!! PHILZA!!”
“Wow, Wow- Kid? You ok?”
“HELP!! BADMAN IS PUTTING SOMETHING IN MY ARM!! HELP! HEL-”
Before Nyte could finish, everything went black.