mercy ; peter ballard

12. decode

march 26, 1986

"nancy!" steve shouted, shaking her shoulders. "hey. hey! nancy! stay with me! nancy! wake up!"

"nancy!" bea screamed in her ear.

she tried to plot a way to save her. every plan she thought of she knew wouldn't work. she knew this was a last resort, but it was the only option left. unlike vecna's attempt with max, bea had time to think her options through.

bea wasn't sure if this was going to work. she didn't use her abilities anymore to avoid being noticed. she hadn't tried in years and she was never really good at using this one to begin with, but she had to try to save nancy.

she looked up to the group above them through the portal. "listen up, children! here's the plan, find out her favorite song while i'm gone—"

"while you're gone?" steve shouted, freaking the fuck out. "what the hell do you mean while you're gone?"

"i'm going in."

while steve was still freaking out, beatrice looked towards nancy and closed her eyes. her ears began to ring with the rush of energy she used. her eyes began to twitch and she stood completely still.

"bea?" steve screamed, being left with two tranced bodies. "what the hell is going on?"

nancy hit the bottom of what looked to be steve's pool. she groaned as she landed on the cold, hard concrete. she slowly got up, aching from the pain. she looked around the vine-ridden pool, hoping to find a way out. her eyes fixed down on a body. she walked towards it, stepping over vines. she looked closer to the body covered in vines.

nancy gasped, realizing the corpse was her best friend, barb. a slug slowly made its way out of barb's mouth. nancy began hyperventilating at the sight of what became of her friend.

suddenly, a booming voice sounded. "do you remember what you did, nancy?"

nancy looked up, searching for the source of the voice.

"or have you already forgotten?" vecna taunted. "when i kill someone, i never forget."

nancy's eyes widened as the pool began to fill with a sickening dark liquid. blood. nancy ran for the ladder out of the pool before it drowned her in blood.

beatrice's eyes snapped open. she stood in the rainbow room once again.

"beatrice," vecna sneers. bea looked around for the creature. "what a pleasant surprise. never would've expected sweet, passive beatrice to join in voluntarily."

the lab fell almost silent. the only noise came from the buzzing of the fluorescent lights. she looked at her surroundings. she gasped as she saw blood-covered floors. her eyes focused on the shattered window. she slowly approached it, anticipating what was coming. the wall behind the window was cracked from impact.

"all that power, wasted." his voice grew more and more venomous with every word he spat.

as she looked to the opposing side, her shaky hand flew to her mouth. she trembled seeing the sight. peter's body lay on the floor, lifeless. her breath became unsteady and her legs felt weak, but she convinced herself to push on for nancy. for max. for peter.