Ah, it's you, the Wife who played my Actress.
Currently, you do not exist. Do not be alarmed, she doesn't want to talk to you anyway.
Item#: 9628
Level5
Containment Class:
apollyon
Secondary Class:
inversa
Disruption Class:
amida
Risk Class:
critical
ASSIGNED SITES
PROJECT LEADS
Site-47, Site-⌘
Irving Gat, Jack Maynard, Seymore S. Starr, Charles Maddock
RESEARCH HEADS
ASSIGNED DEPARTMENTS
Dr. Marshall Path, Dr. Madeline Path
Surrealistics, Contrition, Noöspherics
S.C. Procedures: SCP-9628 cannot be contained. Additionally, SCP-9628 must not be contained.
The full brunt of Foundation resources have been offered to Dr. Marshall Path to assist him in locating Dr. Madeline Path.
Description: SCP-9628 is a universal constant enforcing the love between Drs. Marshall and Madeline Path. Throughout all examined universes, simulations, alternate realties, and pocket dimensions, Marshall and Madeline Path meet, fall in love, and spend the rest of their lives together. Following the establishment of SCP-9628, no events are capable of separating the two individuals.
Various methods have been utilized attempting to contain/nullify SCP-9628, up to and including Akiva Edict, none have succeeded.
Project Delaware represents the Foundation's attempts to utilize SCP-9628 in ending the War. It has thus far been unsuccessful. It is the only hope left.
As of February 14th, EOT, Dr. Madeline Path has been located in The Shivering Kingdom. Dr. Marshall Path has been deployed to find her.
I remember when we first met. It wasn't like the shows, we didn't lock eyes across the mall and feel fluttering in our hearts. Well, I don't think so at least, and I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered. No, it was more nebulous, exposure over time, like that old fucked-up frog in water story.
Maybe I don't remember exactly how we met.
I do remember our first kiss, though. It was bad, I think. Gross. I was drunk, you were high, it was some spoiled kid's house party, you didn't even know my name. I knew yours, of course, we were in the same tour group in college orientation and I have very good facial memory. But the point is: we didn't know each other.
And that kiss was so fucking…
Well, yeah. It wasn't, was it? I didn't feel anything. You didn't either, probably, if you did you never told me.
I said 'thank you', awkwardly. Who the fuck says 'thank you' for a kiss? But I was 19 and drunk and it was my first one so…
I didn't think of you for a while after that.
— Diary of Marshall Path
SCP-9628-1
Description (cont.): SCP-9628-1 is the Starr-Reynders Personality Disseminator (SRPD), an Eigenmachine designed to separate aspects of an individual's personality into different physical bodies and later reintegrate them. These bodies each hold their own sapience, allowing for different aspects to physically communicate and reconcile. Originally developed for therapeutic purposes, the device has been temporarily repurposed by Project Delaware for use as a makeshift cloning device.
Project Delaware
Stated Mission: Utilize SCP-9628 to end the War via reconstructing the concept of love.
Team: Dr. Marshall Path, Dr. Madeline Path
February-March, EOT
Project Steps:
- Recover Dr. Marshall Path.
- Retrieve the SRPD from Site-47.
- Utilize the SRPD on Dr. Path to create no less than 200 copies.
- Locate The Shivering Kingdom.
- Deploy all copies.
- Standby for SCP-9628 manifestation.
Current Step: 4/6
Time Remaining until End of Universe:
30:00
I remember the first bed we shared together, in your 'condo'. It was this shitty waterbed, you had gotten it third-hand, I think, from your friend's neighbor's uncle or something. It had gashes across it from broken glass, a couple stains that neither of us wanted to shine a blacklight on, and it provided about 2 degrees of warmth from the cold of the night.
I don't think I've ever slept so well in my life.
I shouldn't have, you shouldn't have either. We'd both gotten our PHDs, we should have been lecturing, not shivering through cashier jobs. But, being with you felt right, y'know? Like something that was broken inside me suddenly was fixed. Maybe not even fixed, it wasn't fixed, but I didn't need it anymore, because I had you, because you made that pain obsolete. I like to think that I did the same thing for you.
Yeah, those were the best damn nights of my life.
— Diary of Marshall Path
Video Transcript
Location: Saul's Diner, Kingdom Outskirts
Copy: #36
Path enters a large diner, ruby red leather plasters the seats and white EIFS coats the walls with a starfish-like imprint. 34 coffee cups steam up the diner, combining with the low haze of the Shivering Kingdom, casting even bright fluorescent lights into dim green through refraction. The floor is made of black tiles speckled with gold and silver.
Saul: Hey there!
Path is immediately greeted by the friendly, namesake patron of the bar. Saul. If he has a last name no one's ever asked him it. Rounded and happy with a stringy beard and two golden teeth, he smiles.
Path: Hello.
Saul: How can I help you?
Path sweeps his eyes across the room, scrutinizing.
Path: You probably can't, but I appreciate the thought. I'm looking for someone.
Saul: Aren't we all?
Path smiles halfheartedly.
Path: A specific someone, Madeline Path. Here, take a look at this.
Path produces a small slip of paper with a photo printed on. It is a photograph of Madeline Path.
Saul: Can't say I've seen her, sorry.
Path shrugs.
Path: No problem, I had to try.
Both men are alerted at the sound of stomping boots approaching.
Path: Damn, war's coming here too.
Saul It's coming everywhere.
The doors open.
Path: Ain't that the truth?
Both men are subsumed in gunfire.
Photograph of Madeline Path.
Description (cont.): While SCP-9628 does not represent the only manifestation of true love, which is fairly common, it does represent the only recorded instance of 'soul-mates'. Drs. Marshall and Madeline Path are ontologically linked, physically containing a piece of each others souls. This is not, however, implicitly anomalous.
SCP-9628 is anomalous solely in its persistence. Despite ostensibly manifesting from Human souls, which are easily destroyed via remedial technology, SCP-9628 appears nigh-invulnerable.
Video Transcript
Location: Baal'Hash Memorial Hospital, Kingdom Proper
Copy: #47
Path enters the hospital. The whirr of machines pumping lungs to provide life floods the facility, occasionally overruled by the screaming of soldiers. This screaming comes from both inside and outside the hospital. Path approaches the reception desk, a woman waits behind it, visibly stressed and overworked. Her name is Amelia and she is 26 years old and she will never be 27.
AMELIA: Yeah?
PATH: I'm looking for someone. Thought she might be here.
AMELIA: She's not. Only a handful of women left in here and they're all soldiers.
PATH: How do you know I'm not looking for a soldier?
AMELIA: 'Cause you don't look like a military wife.
She flatly holds his gaze for a while before breaking into a grin.
PATH: Just check for me, will you?
AMELIA: Sure. What's the name?
PATH: Madeline Path.
Amelia types in the name and presses the enter key. A dial-up modem roars to life. An ancient box computer searches a fossilized database.
AMELIA: You're gonna be waiting a while.
PATH: Fine. So… uh, what do you do outside of work?
AMELIA: I answer pointless questions. Don't try to small-talk, it's much too late for that.
PATH: Okay. Sorry.
Path looks at the ground.
AMELIA: What kind of injury did your wife have?
PATH: A sickness, I guessed? I don't really know. I just wanted to check if she ever came here.
AMELIA: Well, if she did, she's not here now. No sick left.
PATH: What do you mean?
AMELIA: Triage. There's not enough time left for sickness to actually kill anyone, so we sent them all away. Only combatants are still allowed, trying to patch them back up for the final push.
PATH: The final push?
AMELIA: I don't really know what it means, I just work here. Minimum wage, surprisingly, which is nice.
The uncomfortable silence is broken by the beep of the computer.
AMELIA: —
AMELIA: Yeah, no record of a 'Madeline Path' here, sorry.
PATH: That's okay. Good luck to you.
AMELIA: To you as well. For what it's worth, I hope you find her.
PATH: Thanks.
Path turns to leave, but is interrupted by a last call from Amelia.
AMELIA: You asked what I do, right?
PATH: Yeah, I did.
AMELIA: Hmm.
AMELIA: —
AMELIA: I like to fly.
Video Transcript
Location: Central Park Hill, Kingdom Center
Copy: #85
Path is standing on a hill staring up at the stars. There's not many of them left, now.
PATH: I can't believe they sent me here. She's not here.
Torpedoes fly between battleships in the skies. Steel crumbles and shatters and melts where they impact. A few fly off into dark space, not that it matters, there's no one left for them to hit.
PATH: It's not fair!
Over the hill, the kingdom is burning. Its shivers have turned to fever. Half of the boroughs have been made to ash.
PATH: Maddy, if you can hear me… I'm so sorry.
The city rumbles. The Fourfold Destroyer descends from occupied heaven, a mass of gnashing tentacles and teeth and quaternary loathing and strikes out at the invading fleets.
PATH: I didn't know… I promise I didn't know.
A well placed bullet enters the Destroyer's brain. Cosmic winds swirl as a god is butchered and a number is lost and the battle continues. Path sets his face.
PATH: No. I'm not done looking for you. I made a vow, after all.
I remember the vow I made. It was short. It had to be. We did one of those cheap weddings, rent-a-chapel sort of thing. Friends and family can't come, but they can watch the live-stream. We only paid for a 15 minute time slot.
So yeah, my vows were short. That's part of why I remember them. Yours were longer, you always had a way with words that I never did. I don't remember what you said.
I said something along the lines of 'When I'm near you, I feel different, like I'm not human in a good way. Like I'm something more, all of the virtues and none of the vices. I don't need food or drink or sleep because those are human requirements. I just need to love you, and as long as I love you then nothing can hurt me or kill me or stop me from loving you. And so I will, forever, until the day I die and even past that. I love you, Maddy.'
That's what I said. I checked, I have a recording of the livestream. I didn't watch the part where you talked, though.
That night we rented a hotel, Best Western I think, but it had been a long day so we went straight to bed. I don't think that's what's supposed to happen, but again, it didn't matter if we were doing things wrong or right because we were doing them together.
That's why I need to find you, I want to do things together again.
— Diary of Marshall Path
Video Transcript
Location: Alley, Unknown
Copy: #100
Path turns into an alleyway that protrudes 400 meters. A man is waiting for him, holding out a lit cigarette. This man is Seymore S. Starr, one of the project leads, sent to check up on him, must have pulled the short end of the stick.
STARR: Took a wrong turn, yeah? She won't be in an alley.
PATH: I—
STARR: Want a drag?
Path looks anxiously at the cigarette.
PATH: I didn't know you smoked.
STARR: I didn't. Thought I'd try it.
PATH: It's supposed to be just horrible for your health.
STARR: Bit late to worry about that now, don't you think?
Path reluctantly takes it and smokes. It tastes like a cruel freedom.
PATH: What are you doing here, Starr?
STARR: I'm a hard guy to get rid of. Needed a place to go and this is one of the last places left. Plus, the team wanted me to check up on you. It was on my way so… here I am.
PATH: —
PATH: Well… it's good to see a friendly face.
STARR: Good.
Starr smiles, taking back the cigarette and tossing it on the ground.
PATH: Litter, really?
STARR: There's no one left to pick it up.
Both men sit in companionable silence for some time.
PATH: I'm too late, aren't I? Even if I find her… there's nothing to be done. The War will win anyway.
Starr frowns, biting his lip.
STARR: Yeah.
PATH: You were here to break the news.
STARR: I was.
PATH: —
PATH: What do you think I should do?
STARR: Well, you're not gonna find her. But there's a lot of other yous out there. I'd just hope that one of them gets it right.
PATH: But what should I do?
STARR: I don't know, but if I were you I'd figure it out quick, there's not much time left before the bombs start dropping.
PATH: —
PATH: Can I wait here?
Starr shrugs.
STARR: If you want. I'm not going anywhere.
Video Transcript
Location: The Graveyard, Kingdom Center
Copy: #154
Path is standing in a non-Euclidean graveyard of infinite size. It is 98.8% full. He is examining the headstones.
PATH: Not her.
He moves to another, reading it.
PATH: Not her.
He repeats this process 11,000 times.
Planes fly overhead. Shrapnel soon joins them. The screams of the dying and wounded blot out the sun. War is coming to the Shivering Kingdom. He reads another grave.
PATH: Still not her.
The last intact window shatters. There are only infinite graves to go. You are low on agnostics. Another grave is examined.
PATH: Not her!
The drugs flood your mind. You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep. Your dosage has stabilized. In silos throughout the world, keys are turned.
PATH: Not her.
Path comes to the edge of reality, the very last verdant fields. He knows that they too will soon burn. Twisting white mists form a great barrier to the Not-Between. He looks down.
PATH: Hm.
He is standing atop an unmarked grave. A gentle notion enters his mind and hardens inside like a cyst.
PATH: No.
A tear flows down from his eye.
Project Delaware
Stated Mission: [DOES NOT EXIST]
Team: Dr. Marshall Path
EOT
Project Steps:
- Bring her back.
- Bring her back.
- Bring her back.
- Bring her back.
- Bring her back.
- Standby for SCP-9628 manifestation.
Current Step: 6/6
Time Remaining until End of Universe:
00:00
NOTE: Mission failed. Reclassification to Neutralized pending.
I still remember when you died. It was a quiet Saturday morning. I was living at home, you were at the hospital. They wouldn't even let me see you. They'd call me once a week, if I was lucky, and they'd tell me 'no change'.
I knew that no change meant you were getting worse. That morning, I sat up in bed, and I knew. I went about my business as normal. Made coffee, scrambled eggs with maple syrup, it was a normal Saturday morning. Except, when 10 o'clock came around, I didn't drive to the gym. No, I went to watch you die.
They wouldn't let me in, at first, insisted you needed your rest, that everything would be fine if I were just patient, but I knew. I forced my way in with harsh words and begging. The doctor eventually let me pass.
You didn't wake up, we didn't actually get to say goodbye to each other. I got to say goodbye to you, I talked a lot, I talked and talked. I like to think you heard me. If I'm honest, I don't remember the details. My memory is foggy, nowadays, but I remember the moment you stopped living.
You weren't dead yet, though. The doctor said you were dead, that you'd left the body. That it just looked alive because of the machines. I didn't believe her at first, I saw you breathing. But I looked in your eyes. The light was gone, it was such a bright light that it was easy to notice when it was gone. I like to think the room dimmed along with it.
I said it was okay if they turned off the machines. They did, and you were still. The doctors were baffled by it, they had no idea what part of you had died, which part it had taken. They thought heart or brain, but I knew better, it was your soul.
They told me that you would always be with me, cheap words of idle comfort, but once again I knew better. Because I knew that I would find a way to love you still, hell be damned.
Guess even I'm wrong once in a while.
— [DOES NOT EXIST]
Video Transcript
Location: Apartment #922, Kingdom Center
Copy: N/A
Marshall Path stands before an old, worn door, knocking on it.
MARSHALL: I need to come in! I need to see you!
Screaming comes from behind the door.
MADELINE: Leave me alone!
The city rumbles and shakes as its foundations melt.
MARSHALL: I'm sorry I.. I can't do that.
He slams on the door.
MARSHALL: Please, Maddy.
The screaming stops. The door swings open.
MADELINE: How do you know my name?
MARSHALL: —
MARSHALL: It's me, Maddy.
Several seconds pass. Reality is bleeding from the seams. It is the end of all things.
MADELINE: Marshall?
MARSHALL: Yes.
She pulls him close, the pair hug. Tears well in both pairs of eyes.
MADELINE: It's too late, isn't it?
MARSHALL: Yeah, but we were always on borrowed time.
She nods somberly.
BOTH: I'm sorry.
The sound of an atom bomb is audible. Neither turn to look. A mushroom cloud can be seen through the grimy window in the back of the room. The couple kiss.
BOTH: I love you.
They are reduced to ash.
[DOES NOT EXIST]
Location: [DOES NOT EXIST]
Copy: [DOES NOT EXIST]
Something should be here, but isn't. Have you forgotten? Maybe you should try looking for it.
SCP-9628.
Video Log
EOT+00ms: Existence is empty. The bodies of dead gods and sundered ships drift aimlessly through 0-Dimensional Space.
EOT+0.00001ms: Motion is dead. The death rattles of reality cease. What remains of the universe begins to cool and still. Nothing will ever be okay again.
EOT+0.0001ms: Hell has frozen over. There is no one to witness. The light at the end of the tunnel has dimmed, and now casts a sickly white glow over the bombed absence.
EOT+0.00015ms: 2 colorless specks of dust drift through absolute nothing. There is no medium. Behind them, the lifeless body of something older than time falls past the camera.
EOT+0.001ms: The two specks brush against each other. Luck is dead, yet this is still the most unlikely event to ever occur.
EOT+0.01001ms: After the brush, each speck shines a little brighter in the indistinct light source.
EOT+1.00000ms: Both specks drift off frame, despite the lack of any forces, it appears as though they are sticking together.
NOTE: Reclassification denied.