mercy ; peter ballard

25. battle of the larynx

may 10, 1986

peter was playing the long game. he was still tired and worn out. his physical body needed more time to heal, more time he didn't have. he roamed the hallways of a broken laboratory. vines infected the building, almost completely covering the infrastructure. this was a homecoming for him. the halls were almost too familiar. he could almost hear the taunting buzzing from the broken fluorescent lights overhead.

max was tucked away in his mind, in her own little nightmare, reliving it over and over again. that night in the mall where billy...only this time it was different. she couldn't move, her legs were frozen in place as the bodies of her friends and her late stepbrother surrounded her, covered in blood. all she could do was stand there and watch.

peter forcefully shoved open the door. after the massacre, they must have blocked off their rooms on this level as it seemed to have been locked. his eyes trailed around the room.

he remembered every kiss shared here, every nightmare they worked through, everything. his gaze shifted to a certain discarded plush. he picked up penelope off the floor. the old plush was dirty and there was a rip in its arm. he took penelope with him, something to remind him of her and something to give to his daughter some day.

peter was becoming impatient as the weeks passed by. why was he still weakened? he did so much already. he had sacrificed almost a decade for this. he was so close to his family, but so far. they felt just out of his grasp. he was going to stop at nothing to have them back. the only things that mattered was having his family and keeping them safe from the horrible things that plagued the overworld.

when the underworld finally unleashes itself onto the overworld, he will have rid the overworld from the vicious and horrid cycle it forced upon it inhabitance. their children will live in a world with no worry of hunger, poverty, greed, or war. they would make rules to make this wretched place better. whatever the children or his wife wanted would be theirs at the snap of a finger. they would have their dream home. it would be just as they wanted. she would grow to understand why he was doing this.

he stared at the old plush, brushing some of the dirt off. "soon, my dear."

may 13, 1986

almost everything in the cabin was fixed. it was finally starting to look like a home again. hopper slept in the living room while eleven and joyce took the bedroom. jonathan, and argyle hung out with nancy or at the cabin in the day, but stayed in bea's trailer at night. will stayed at bea's with the boys, either tagging along with the other two or following with whatever bea did for the day.

bea was curled up on the couch with a sketchbook, tilly by her legs and will was sitting on the floor, drawing in a sketchbook bea gave him. in the background, sounds from a cartoon played from the tv.

"alright, brochachos, jonathan and i are going to the sketchy cabin in the woods," argyle announced, walking into the living room with jonathan. will looked to them as they stood next to the door.

jonathan chuckles, "if you guys need us, you know where to find us."

"alright, see you guys later," bea smiled, looking up from her drawing.

will glanced up, briefly, muttering a 'bye'.

argyle and jonathan walked out the door, leaving will, tilly, and beatrice alone. beatrice focused on her drawing. she brushed away the eraser marks from the two figures. sawyer and elodie. they were well detailed, all the way to the way their brown hair fell. she took a quick sip from her mug and placed it back on the table beside her, next to a walkie, which was there in case something were to happened.