mercy ; peter ballard

27. d o m e s t i c b l i s s

may 14, 1986

will dug through the suitcase, unpacking his clothes. he tried to come up with places bea could be. the creel house? destroyed. work? she wouldn't just leave her car. there had to be somewhere she would be. at the bottom of his bag, he found something. a crumpled up note.

'will,

this is going to be short and sweet. i'm sorry for everything. i did visit max before i left. tilly is with my next door neighbour, catherine vee, if you want to see her. i'll try to see you whenever i'm back in town, i promise.

i just need you to know that none of this is your fault. i can tell when i am not wanted in these kinds of place and i wasn't. you are always welcome to stay with me, remember that. stay true to yourself, kid.

see you on the other side,

beatrice francis.'

"the other side," he murmured to himself. those words specifically stuck out to him. "the other side." he repeated, realizing what she meant. upside down. she was returning to vecna. that's where she had gone. he told them this would happen. if they didn't fuck it up, they would still have a chance.

'i should tell someone, right?' he thought. something in his gut told him not to. he didn't usually want to withhold information about vecna after what had happened over the past couple of years, but after everything that went down, the idea began to grow on him. it wasn't technically lying, just leaving out details.

it might've seemed petty, but will had earned that right. ever since el had returned during the mind flayer situation, he felt cast aside. he was a second thought now. even his mom was more worried about whatever she had doing on than about him.

he tore the note into the tiniest pieces he could muster and threw them in the nearest garbage bin. no one would be able to piece it back together even if they tried. not like anyone would even notice.

"if i'm going to stay, we need to set a few things straight," bea said, sitting up her bed. bea fixed up her room for their temporary stay. just until they can fix up a real place. after she cleaned the room the night before, they just held each other, basking in each other's presence.

peter kept waking up at night, checking to make she was still breathing, anything to convince himself she was okay. after confirming she was fine, he pulled her closer and tried to get back to sleep.

peter nodded, swinging his legs off the bed. he turned to look at her, "i agree. what did you have in mind?"

"okay so first, what do i call you? peter, henry, one?"

"any of them is fine. it's whatever you prefer, my dear."

"where is max?"

that was the burning question. if he brought back max now, the gate they needed would close and the progress they had would be lost. he had to find a way to keep four gates and bring back max.

he pointed to his head. "she's in here. i can't let her out yet, bea. trust me on this one, please," he pleaded, taking her hands in his. "as soon as i figure this out, i will let her go. for you."

she looked in his eyes. he was always readable to her. she could he was genuine about this.

"fine. as long as it is soon, and i mean soon, peter," bea spoke, thinking of her next inquiry. "oh, do you know what happened to eddie, the boy who was left here?" she questioned, remembering his body was no longer where she laid him to rest.