Mercy- 001 x OC

Chapter 1- Trust No One

Valerie wandered through the halls of the facility. It had been her home for the past sixteen years. She was first known as Three. Now she's known as Frederica- Freddy- Emory. She always kept her real name, Valerie, close to her heart.

She'd tried to kill Papa, in a few instances, which caused her to get a clip inserted into her neck. Instead of training, she helped the children train. There were many rules that Papa enforced, one of them being don't sleep with anyone.

Valerie walked to a set of double doors at the end of the hall, pushing them open. Seeing some of the children sitting and doing things that no regular human would ever think were possible. A rainbow was painted on the wall, on the furthest wall was an upside down rainbow.

"Good morning." A voice said from behind Valerie.

Valerie spun around, bumping noses with someone, "Ow," she muttered, looking up, a smiling blonde boy was staring down at her, "Peter." She said with a smile.

The blonde boy's name was One. Until Papa had no further use for him. He was now going by the alias of Peter Ballard.

Both of them were orderlies, caretakers of the children. None of the children knew it but they were once like them, powerful and dangerous. Each was marked by a number, going from one to eighteen. Eighteen had arrived around two years prior. She took a liking on a subject named Eleven. Maybe she saw a lot of herself in her. Or maybe she was the key to escaping and freeing her. She knew that Henry also took a liking to her.

For Valerie, time was her biggest enemy. Each day blended together with the one prior. She kept a small journal in her room, adding to it each day. Writing whatever happened on that day, so she wouldn't forget or get confused. She kept it under her bed in a secret place, she had come across many empty journals over the years. She took every one she found, filling most of them with entries upon entries.

Each year just seemed to blend with the last, she'd found her peace in writing these entries. In writing generally she found her peace, in her free time she spent writing in her room. In notebooks.

Papa pretended that her and Peter didn't even exist, in their number form. To the other children they're seen as orderlies.

"Sorry." Peter replied.

Valerie's cheek flushed pink, "It's okay." Brushing a loose strand of hair back.

Writing was the only thing that Valerie could call peace and hope. Her writing gave herself hope, hope that she could perhaps one day escape from the prison. Hope that she could one day be free. She'd almost given up hope and lost her sense of sanity, that's when she began writing and stealing journals.

Time seemed to wrap into nothingness as the days turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into years. She hated this place, some days she wondered, why me? There were around 189 million people in the United States when I was placed here.

Henry made her happy, he'd cared for her when she was younger, he was there during all her hopeless moments and he was there when she needed comfort.

Peter stood with his hands in front of him, waiting. The door opened and Papa entered. All the children stood and stood in two lines near the door.

"Good morning, children." Papa said, standing in the middle of the room.

"Good morning, Papa." The children replied in perfect unison.

"How are we feeling today?"

"Good, Papa."

"Good." Papa turned, "Number Five, would you be so kind and open the door."

"Yes, Papa." Five replied, holding the door open.

The rest of them exited the room, Valerie held the door for Five as she snuck beneath her arm. Following the other children. Valerie turned and was about to follow the children.

"Val, I'm scared," said Peter, startling her.

Turning to him, "Me too, everyone's afraid of something, Hals."

Henry nodded, pointing to a camera in the corner of the room, leaning towards her, "They're watching, they always are," he whispered, "Don't do anything stupid."

Valerie signaled her agreement, "Neither do you," she whispered back.

Henry fought a smile. Valerie quickly brushed a strand of loose hair, then turned and walked down the hall. It took Henry a few seconds to follow her.

***

That night, Valerie was swiping her keycard on a pad to a stairwell. Walking down the stairs, dragging her gloved hand on the handrail. Then she reached the bottom of the stairs. A hand flew to her mouth, pulling her to the cover of the stairs.

"Why do you always have to do that?" She asked, in a quiet voice.

"Because, why not." Henry replied, firmly.

"Why of all places is this our meeting spot? Isn't it-" she pointed a finger at a camera, "Too obvious." She finished.

"Because no one ever watches this camera, or that camera, ever."

"Okay. Why did you want me down here, anyways?"

"So we can talk without seeming suspicious."

"Henry, I have to be on patrol duty every Thursday from eight to twelve. Then someone else has it. It's nearly eight."

"This is important, Valerie. Trust no one, but yourself. Remember that."

Valerie narrowed her eyes, "Then why should I trust you?"

"You have to trust yourself on everything."

Valerie hesitated, running a hand through her short brown hair, "Well I trust myself on trusting you if that makes any sense. Do you trust me?"

He lifted a hand and stroked Valerie's cheek, "Of course I do, I have from the moment I met you."

She leaned into his hand, "I should go, I have to go on patrol." She stood hitting her head on the stairs, "Ow!" She exclaimed, rubbing her head.

"Val, wait."

Valerie turned and faced him, "What is it?"

Henry pulled a compass out of his back pocket, "You see this." He pointed to the hand, "It always points North, because it's true North."

She gave him a quick smile, then hurriedly rushed up the stairs.

***

After her patrol she made her way to her room, bending over and punching the numbers, 8656. Her birthday. Her hand fell on a stack of notebooks, pulling one out, she walked to her desk, then picked her pen up, writing:

Dear Dairy, 8/30/1979

Today's training session was a ring of lights, Papa says we will be on that training equipment for a while. Henry and I are still trying to plot an escape, it'll hopefully come to us soon. We both have our own ideas, but never the same one.

We always meet in secret everyday at night, normally. I hope we can one day, get out of this prison and go somewhere else. Somewhere that I can call "home." This truly is a prison, mental and physical. Henry also told me not to trust anyone, but myself, which I will do. I don't know how we're going to escape, but we will. He promised that we would.

-V.H.

Putting the journal back, she flopped into bed. Pressing the pillow into her face, she wished her for freedom and she wished for her sanity as she drifted off.

-Quick A/N-

I'm sorry that I used both Henry and Peter in this chapter, I'll probably keep doing that. Just note they are the same person/character. I'll probably use Valerie's aliases in the following chapters, so Freddy. Just warning you! :)