My Number One (001/Henry Creel/Vecna x Reader)

A Void in Death

My heart lifted. Not only was it not a guard chasing after us, but it was my best friend! Forcing Mr Ballard to risk going back up the stairs was worth it, after all!

A grin broke out in my face, but when I turned to give Mr Ballard an appreciative glance, he didn't smile back.

"Eleven!" I called, but she stood staring, her mouth falling open in shock.

"Come on," Mr Ballard said, grabbing hold of my shoulders and urging me to move.

"No, we have to wait for Eleven!" I said, beckoning her forward. "Quick, Eleven, come here!"

"Well, she's not moving is she? Come on, Twelve!" Mr Ballard shouted.

"Eleven, follow us!" I called.

"She's not doing it!" Mr Ballard echoed, now pulling me away with full force.

"Wait!" I struggled.

As we moved away, Mr Ballard bringing me against my will, he glanced behind us quickly and jolted his head to the side. I heard a crash, and turned to see what had happened. Eleven had hit the floor, and was being propelled down the hallway by an invisible force...Mr Ballard's force.

"No!" I cried, trying to escape his hold and help Eleven.

Then, Eleven spoke, and she stood up, advancing towards us. "She said no!" she screamed, and her arm flew up in return, sending Mr Ballard flying against a wall. For a moment, I went with him, but with the shock of the force, he let me go, and I fell to the ground, unhurt.

Mr Ballard then fell down, too, and I saw him reach his hand to his head and pull it away, now dripping with blood. "My head," he whispered, looking at his hand.

After a moment of silence, he grabbed me and started running again. I heard a grunt from behind me, and craned my head to see that Eleven had been struck for a second time, and Mr Ballard's bloody hand was extended behind him as he ran with me, holding her down.

"Stop!" I begged Mr Ballard, tugging on his arm in an attempt to halt his power. I struggled against his hold for a moment again, but then I didn't have to. Against Mr Ballard's incredible force, Eleven had managed to reach her hand up and, with her power, thrust him against the wall, but this time, she held him there.

They were battling, both holding each other, with me in the middle, helpless, not wanting to defend one as it would mean the other getting hurt.

It tore me apart to see the two people I cared about the most battling against each other.

I loved Eleven due to her similarity to me. We were so alike, I knew I could say anything I thought to her and never had to worry about her disagreeing. Strengthened and eternal was my love for her from all the years we had spent, almost like a memory you would relive so many times that it was forever ingrained inside of you.

But I loved Mr Ballard for all the contrary reasons. We were opposites, and I liked it. We seemed to balance each other out. I was so hesitant, with my tendency to stick to what I knew slowly burying me alive, and he recognised that. I knew deep down that I needed to trust my gut and break free from this prison, but I never would have tried it if left to my own devices. All the dear what ifs.

And his love was new, fresh. So much unexperienced, undiscovered. Exciting. With Eleven, I had learnt everything about her, and we had reached the closest point we would ever be. Living in a laboratory, living as a test subject, I craved excitement. I craved different. New. And Mr Ballard was the first I'd had of that in a very long time.

Blood dripped from Eleven's nose, and she let out a scream.

All of a sudden, a fluorescent orange void opened up behind Mr Ballard, and debris circled the surrounding air.

I grabbed my stomach in shock. What on Earth was this? Was it even part of Earth?

"Stop!" I shouted to Eleven.

But she didn't.

Mr Ballard was now out of his depth, so she had all the power.

He began to disintegrate, the particles of him whirling in the air and disappearing to the portal, and he screamed until he could no more. I can't recall much of this memory now, apart from how I stood before him...well, what was left of him...grasping at the air and dust and debris with my hands, until there was nothing more, and I fell to my knees.

When it was over, Eleven fell too, unconscious from overuse of her abilities, and silence filled the air. My ears rang in contrast to the deafening sounds I had just heard. Those, I will never forget.

I knelt down in complete shock for what must have been about five minutes, and I didn't bother to check if Eleven was okay.

It's difficult to imagine grieving for someone you haven't been close to for very long, but you must understand that in the laboratory I had no one besides Eleven. So, when I got close to someone, it was everything. I got attached so easily. The laboratory was my Earth. To me, there was nothing outside of it, and everyone inside of it was the human population. This is not to mention how I was a young girl, and it wasn't just the first time I had been in love, but the first time I had experienced attraction altogether...granted, I didn't know what it was at the time. Mr Ballard was my future. The only future I had ever seen for myself.

Soon enough, a sound broke me out of my silence. Footsteps. Not Elevens, but I assumed a guard, and, actually, more than likely multiple of them. More than anxiety, I just felt annoyed. In that moment, I felt I wanted to lie there forever, and that I would never be able to stop replaying that scene, and past days, with Mr Ballard, over and over again in my head. I accepted my fate. There was no outside world without him. He was going to be the one to look after me. I knew nothing of the outside apart from the basic functions of Earth: the sunrise, the sunset, and the tide going in and out each day.

But, then I remembered Mr Ballard's words. About how he had opened my eyes to see the prison I was living in. How he had confirmed what I had been suspecting about this place for a while before he even came to me about it.

And I realised I had one chance. This was my only chance, and if I failed, at least I'd know I'd tried.

I reluctantly walked over to Eleven. I couldn't leave her behind. If I did, Mr Ballard would've died for nothing. I'd have no one. I felt resentment towards her and what she had done, but I had faith our years of friendship were stronger than that.

I hauled her over my shoulder, using telekinesis to handle some of the weight, and started to run.