Desolate Throne [ClefDraki]

7. [An Overseer]

[Song Above: It Took Me By Surprise by Maria Mena]

The next day, Clef stood outside Kondraki's office. Green shirt in hand. He was mentally preparing himself to knock. The door screeched open and Kondraki nearly ran straight into the blonde.

"Alto! I almost ran into you, idiot." Kondraki's green eyes watched a 408 land on Clef's nose.

Clef stared at the insect, eyes crossing. He growled and shooed the delicate butterfly off his face. Instead of scaring it away, it made more flutter over and land all over him. Clef sighed in defeat, Kondraki snickering at him from afar.

"Here's your shirt back." Clef looked away and shoved the shirt into the taller's arms. The brunette mumbled a quiet "Thank you" in response. Clef watched Kondraki retreat into the office and reappear without the shirt.

"Ready to go to the meeting?" Kondraki made small talk as he closed the door. Last night, they both received emails, invitations to a meeting.

"Yeah," Clef readjusted his ukulele that hung around his torso, he had decided to bring it with him.

Clef trailed after the brunette, almost completely hidden behind him. As they walked, Clef played a few tunes on his ukulele. There's gonna be O5 members there, never met one in person before. Some of the 408 butterflies still clung onto Clef, he tried his best to not crush them. Clef glanced at Kondraki, who had the other half of the swarm fluttering around him like a cloud.

"How do you not crush them? They're all over me!" Clef hissed lightheartedly.

Kondraki didn't even look back as he answered with, "You get used to it.".

Clef rolled his eyes in response. He started getting nervous as they neared the meeting room. Kondraki opened the door and walked in, no fear. Clef huffed and followed the taller in. The lighting in the room was dim, just enough to be able to see clearly and still be dark. The brunette sat down in a chair at the long table, the blonde soon following and taking a seat next to him.

Clef studied everyone at the table. Gears, Iceberg, Glass, Rights, Crow, and two others. The ones Clef didn't recognize were an older looking man with ginger hair peeking through patches of silver, along with an older woman next to the man too. They both looked stressed and maybe even sad but they held solemn looks across their features. Looking around more, Clef noticed all the seats were taken, except two.

Everyone sat in silence, waiting. Minutes ticked by. What are we waiting for? Clef glanced at Kondraki, who proceeded to shrug. Then everyone jolted when shouting from down the hall increased in volume as it came closer. It wasn't normal shouting, not in pain nor in anger. It was the kind of yelling you'd hear in a friendly sibling bicker or banter.

Then the door swung open and in strode a tall man dragging another by the arm. The one being dragged was barely moving his feet, allowing himself to be flung around like a ragdoll.

The tall man had this mature aura around him like if he told anyone to do something, they'd do it without question. In his free hand, he clutched a staff with a handle shaped like a wolf head. The guy wore a pristine suit that clashed with the cowboy hat on his head. Something bugged Clef about him. He seemed... slightly familiar. The man's hair was dark ginger, tied in a ponytail sitting loosely on his shoulder, only one other person in the room had ginger hair like that but that wasn't what was getting at Clef. Why does he seem familiar?

Shrugging it off, Clef turned his attention to the other male. It was a D-class, something didn't feel right about him though. A shiny pale golden amulet swung around his neck, light glinted off the small diamonds embedded in the crosshatched metal. A big crimson ruby sat in the middle of it, almost ominous. Perhaps if you listened hard enough, you could hear the screams of someone trapped inside.

The male's eyes were a startling red. A red Clef recognized. Bright had once told him about something that happened before he joined the Foundation, he had gotten into a fight with his older brother and his eyes had turned red. Bright's theory was that since it was his first contact with SCP-963, it turned his eyes ruby red.

The D-class saw his friends and grinned. That stupid grin always plastered over Bright's face. Always hiding the pain his past caused him, hiding the fact he blames himself for everything.

"Bright?" Clef hesitantly called out. The D-class nodded silently.

"Hey, Clef. At least I can tell people what death feels like!" He joked, but everyone caught the flash of a dark look crossing his face.

The other male pushed Bright's head and growled, telling him to sit down. Bright squeaked, "Mikell, chill," Bright still complied. Reluctantly.

This "Mikell" sat down next to Bright with Clef on his other side. Clef stared at him, trying to unnerve him and figure who he is. His gray eyes flicked over to the blonde and he glared. Clef looked away and turned to Kondraki.

"Nice to see you finally arrive, 6." Gears spoke in his usual flat tone, Iceberg watching him closely. Wait, THAT GUY IS AN OVERSEER?!

Mikell huffed and began to speak, "I think Jack should be given an SCP classification," Jack's expression fell, and he looked at Mikell in disbelief.

Gears only squinted, contemplating the overseer's opinion. The older ginger clenched his fists, shaking his head. "No, I'm not letting another one of my kids be put in a cage."

Clef's eyes widened. That's his father? Bright has siblings that are SCPs? Clef watched Mikell stand again. "You don't get a say in this, Adam." Mikell spat out the name as if he had some longtime grudge against the man. "You chose to retire yesterday. You have no say, so I'd advise you to keep quiet." Adam swallowed dryly at Mikell's order and let his head sink.

This time Glass spoke up, "I don't think he should be an SCP for two reasons. One, he's too valuable. He's a great researcher, that'd be a waste. Two, that wouldn't just be about him. He has friends and people who care about him, that would put more work on me.".

Iceberg opened his mouth to add to the discussion but snapped it shut when Gears raised a hand at him. Gears shook his head at the shivering light-haired male.

Kondraki's gruff voice spoke up, "He shouldn't be an SCP. It's just the amulet, the anomaly isn't actually him," Mikell's silver gaze seared into everyone that opposed him.

Clef watched a butterfly land on the table, too close to Mikell. Mikell's hand went up. NO! What is with this guy? He's upset that Jack got killed. That doesn't mean he can take it out on everyone else! As the hand came down, Clef shouted and Kondraki reached across Clef. Kondraki's large hand grabbed Mikell by the wrist, sure to leave a mark.

"Touch that butterfly and no one will ever find your body." Kondraki had a dark tone in his voice, one Clef had never heard before. Clef questioned to himself why a shiver ran down his spine at Kondraki's sudden tone change.

"Enough. I don't think he should be an SCP either." The golden furred canine growled, Rights nodding in agreement.

"It's settled then. Bright will remain as a researcher. We'll have the other O5 members discuss his restrictions." Gears stood quickly, Iceberg following closely. Iceberg paused in the doorway.

"Bright, don't give me cups of lava. It's very annoying." Iceberg mumbled and ran after Gears. Bright chuckled quietly.

Clef sighed in relief and Kondraki held the threatened insect in his hands. Mikell scoffed and closed his eyes. Clef half-listened to what Mikell muttered under his breath, "It's Jack's fault Claire got taken away, I shouldn't get so worked up over his death...but to come back to life? That'll put so much strain on us...".

The Bright family sure is one broken group of people.