mercy ; peter ballard

17. s a t e l l i t e h e a r t

march 27, 1986

"happy birthday, dear," he spoke from behind her. he wasn't in his 'vecna' form. bea looked around her surroundings. the rainbow room. it was clean. all the toys were put in their respective cubbies that bea used to organize. there were no bodies, not a drop of blood.

she rolled her eyes, facing the man. "this shit again? stop bullshitting around! i'm fucking tired, peter. or should i say henry? for fucksake, vecna? one?"

the walls he built up began to crumble at her words. "listen, sweetheart, i can explain-"

she cut him off. she was fucking fuming. "no! why? why do you need to do this shit?"

he just stares at her as she spoke like a child being scolded.

"it's not fair. i finally find a family again after years of struggling. struggling with the loss of my parents. the loss of my aunt. the loss of you. only for you to be alive. somewhat well. you really didn't care about me. all you cared about was power. showing humanity it's flaws. those flaws are what make people human. good or bad. my flaw was being a pawn in your little game."

she paced around him. "all this time, i should've known you were there. all the times i heard 'you never loved him' and all those shitty visions were just you all along. i knew i loved you. hell, i still love you. it's all fucked up."

she stops in front of him. her chocolate brown eyes met with his piercing blue eyes. it was like diving into an ice cold pool. they were like fire and ice. night and day. dark and light. they were so perfect for each other, but terrible at the same time.

"beatrice," he starts, reaching for her cheek. "we can be a family again. we can start a new family in a world where we make the rules-"

she grabs his wrist before he could make contact. now, she knew he was vecna, he was no longer a ghost haunting her in her head. he was physically tangible, but he was so out of reach.

"no. just because i love you, doesn't mean i can't still hate you. wake me up."

"please-" he tried to reason with her. call her back to him. she didn't budge.

"if you ever loved me, you'll let me wake up. now," she said, assertively. she dropped his hand and let it fall to his side.

he wouldn't hurt her. only her. he let her go. the only one he'd let willingly get away.

"your wish is my command, dear. my plan will continue. with or without you," his voice boomed, gradually returning to his vecna tone. "your friends will suffer."

she jumped up out of her chair, catching her breath as if she was held underwater. she looked around at everyone preparing to go inside.

"rise and shine! we're here," eddie announced from the seat in front of beatrice. "you can either go inside or stay here."

"i'll go in. you want anything inside, eds?" beatrice asked, standing up.

"surprise me, bea. surprise me."

erica takes the lead walking inside. the store was filled to the brim with anything and everything patriotic or military associated.