《A/n: I apologize for such a wait, requested by: Spirit880 》

You hadn't noticed for weeks.

Of course, anyone with the same infection doesn't notice at first. If you count weeks and months as 'first'.

Soon after the apparent sounds of ticking entered your ears, it fell into background noise.

Not only that but your friend suddenly disappears too. Your unnamed friend, who you've been speaking and meeting with often has just up and vanished.

It started with a fluttering sensation every now and then under your skin, you'd just itch away.

Then it got to the ticking, as though a clock was glued to the back of your brain.

You ignored it for the first whole month, seeing as it didn't seem to disrupt or annoy you as you adjusted to the noise.

Then came the searing pain.

You were walking at a mall with your two best friends, when it happened.

So sudden, and so painful. You swore you were dying.

You collapsed on the ground right in the middle of a pathway, screaming in pain while clutching your chest. It was as though someone was stabbing you repeatedly from the inside.

Your friends look at you in panic and concern.

"Call an ambulance! Hurry!"

"What's wrong (Y/n)?!"

You squeezed your eyes shut, trying to think of anything than the burning pain inside you. What was wrong? Not even you had a clue to that answer, because you've never experienced this before.

You hissed and screamed in pain, praying to the gods above to end the tearing pain inside.

Eventually you were carried into an ambulance on a stretcher, rolling back and forth in hopes of soothing the pain.

You couldn't sleep and barely ate while it happened, the pain lasting four full days.

All you could do is mentally last through the pain.

•▪°○°▪•

You stared in horror at the x-ray.

"What the hell is that?" You gasped, eyes looking to the doctor.

A day has passed since the tearing pain, the hospital deciding that it was best to stay a bit in case the pain returned.

Nothing could prepared you for what the cause was.

"It seems to be metal, parts of a clockwork. They also seem to be operating inside you." He gestured to the photo.

"But how?"

He frowned, glancing at his clipboard. "I will be contacting some... specialists, for now I'd like for you to rest. I will tell you afterwards."

You scowled, but nodded compliant to the suggestion. "Okay... okay." You breathed out a sigh, sitting back on your bed and traced the skin on your stomach. Were you a machine now? You chuckled bitterly at that, a huge part of you wished this was a dream, but you knew full well that pain was very real.

So you shut your eyes, more empty inside than you expected, you tried to focus on the ticking in the back of your head.

Letting the sound lull you away into a slumber.

•▪°○°▪•

You jolted up, your skin crawling with cold air. You looked around, where the hell am I? Staring down at your change of clothing then to the room you sat in.

A small... cell, or something, the only visible exit being the sliding metal door north east of you.

You squeezed the thin blanket of the bed in fistfuls. Then you felt a jolt inside you again.

Then the pain was back.

It hit you so fast you couldn't even scream for a few seconds. Falling down to the padded floor with a screech, eyes shut tight and hands holding each side of your head.

This pain would make you go crazy.

No one came this time, your mind only focused on the pain that ripped through you.

You'd rather be in dead than go through this, knowing it was better than whatever clockwork fate had in store for you.

So you screamed, screamed to express the pain until your voice hurt to much to scream.

It felt like years, you were sure it was just a few days but you were completely exhausted and tired. You were tired of this.

What did you do to deserve this pain? Was it because you didn't help that old lady across the street? Because you choose to be a bystander when you saw a student get bullied.

Probably.

If you could turn back time just to fix those mistakes you'd certainly do it without a doubt.

Nails scratched against the cushioned floor while you tried to ignore the pain.

Minutes passed as the burning faded, and when you opened your eye, you realized what had changed.

You had one eye now, and your shoulder was also metal gears.

Mentally you've already fallen apart, broken yet physically you were now part machine.

You felt unresponsive, underactive to what had happened. Just a few tears that slid down your cheek and an acceptance that this was you now.

But you weren't you.

You were completely different, whatever had happened changed your train of thought.

You swallowed thickly, a hand reaching up to brush across the clockwork. In your vision, your finger brushed against a lens, as if you were permanently staring through a camera.

It shook you in ways you thought were impossible.

Then the door to the room opened, two people with hazmat suits walked in.

You stared in confusion, puzzled on what they were going to do.

You were then picked off the ground, and being escorted out of the small room.

You stared around, feeling much more disconnected with your mind and your surroundings.

White halls, metal doors... other people.

The ticking in your head felt much more louder, so you focused on that while you were following. You glanced back when you were shoved, staring at the gun that clicked, then the holder with annoyance.

You were brought into a air chamber, then your mind was then averted to the odd cell ahead, and was promptly pushed inside before the doors closed shut behind you.

Once again confused by their actions, you stood, actions more stiff like a robot than lively; and brushed yourself off.

"(Y/n)?"

You paused, turning you head slowly, there in the center of the room was your old friend. What was he doing here? Your mind asked.

"Oh, I thought you went missing..." Your brow was furrowed, showing your visible confusion. Then on a comm above a voice spoke;

"Please approach SCP-217."

You glanced up, to the speaker.

"... did I do that to you?"

Your attention was brought back to '217' and with a shrug you answered, "I... don't know."

"They're saying I'm a virus, that my contact will turn living creatures into things... like you." He spoke, though in your mind, you were still bewildered. If he was the cause of your pain, how does he himself look human?

"You're name is SCP-217?"

"No, it's not, they call me that here."  He replied, his eyes looking primarily at the gears and clockwork that replaced your skin.

Slowly, you choose to sit across from him. "Can you hear it to?"

"Hear what...?"

"The ticking."

He paused, humming in thought, now you've noticed something that you did not before. His voice now sounded far more mechanical than you heard it last.

He was the same yet different to you now.

Whichever difference or similarity that was, he was the only person you knew in this strange place.

A hand that was placed on your heart brought you back from your daze.

"No matter the physical change, you are still beautiful."

Your eye blinked, before a tint of red dusted your cheeks. "Thank you, though I wish the process was not so horribly painful." You smiled sadly.

"You do seem different other than physically, I'm guessing that's why...?"

"The process was painful, I wish it wasn't so." You repeatedly subconsciously.

He mirrored your smile, before unexpectedly tracing your lens-like eye.

"Stay with me here? It's very lonely."

You tilted your head, "okay."

He mirrored your movements again, smile widening.

"I will help you through the pain."

You smiled slowly.

"Okay."