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

Clicking Together

I held my breath now that his hand was on my neck, making me experience inexplainable feelings. I was afraid any slight movement, breath of mine, would make him take his hand back off.

He smiled now. It was very small, almost unnoticeable, but I saw it. "Breathe," he said.

He noticed. He noticed my every movement.

I opened my mouth slightly and whispered a question. I thought I might as well since I had to breathe, now. "Why don't you want me shared?"

I felt four sharp pains at the back of my neck, and one at the front. He was digging in his new sharp claws. "Those men in the brothel are leeches to you, but your blood is only mine," he said as he released his grip, letting a drop of blood he had pierced from my neck drip down onto my chest.

I breathed heavier now, watching the red raindrop fall lower, until it sunk into the low-cut top Walter had provided me.

"You're okay," whispered Mr Ballard. "You've been through worse."

"Are you going to harm me?" I asked, my voice wavering with fear.

"Never," he vowed.

I swallowed, preparing to speak again, starting with my first question. "Why did you keep your powers a secret from us?"

Mr Ballard's hands were now back at his sides. His deep voice became deeper, and full of bitterness. "Mr Brenner—Papa—forced me. He found me. I was his first subject, but I was too powerful, and I wanted to escape. That's when he created you instead, and the others, and implanted my Soteria device to suppress me and have me work at the lab instead."

"Created me?"

"He gave your mother drugs while she was pregnant with you, and he made the drugs based on experiments he had conducted on me."

"Pregnant?"

Mr Ballard sighed. "Children grow in their mother's stomach when they are babies before they come out into the world. Mr Brenner gave poison to your mother, and it affected you because you were inside of her. That's how you got your powers." He shook his head. "This is exactly what I meant when I convinced you to escape the lab. It's not right, the way I have to explain the simplest of words to you at your age, because you were so sheltered for Mr Brenner's own gain."

So...I wasn't a freak of nature? I wasn't born abnormally? But...Mr Ballard had said that Mr Brenner found him. Did that mean someone else had given his mother drugs, or was he really an abnormality?

I almost went to apologise because Mr Ballard seemed annoyed, but then I remembered he was mad at Mr Brenner, not me. I was the victim here. "Where is...mother...now?"

"I don't know," he said, and his expression was neutral.

I had never known my mother, but I did know that other people had them. Instead, I had a carer, but she didn't care. In fact, I suspected she was quite afraid of me, of my powers. She didn't spend much time with me, and instead left me to myself asides from seeing to basic needs.

We lived in a big house near a secluded beach at the bottom of a forest. Nothing else was around, but I just assumed that was normal. I did know that other places existed, though, because my carer would go there to and leave me alone for days on end, and I never really found out why. I never used to mind at all, though. I enjoyed swimming in the water, climbing trees and digging holes. I lived a very basic, natural life. The time I spent in the sea as a young child also made me adapt to the cold, which ended up benefitting me when I was eventually sent to the laboratory and forced to sit in cold pools to conduct experiments on my mind.

"Where is the sea?" I asked, distracted by my train of thought. "And the woods where I used to live?"

"I don't know where you used to live, but we can't go there, anyway."

"Why?"

"Because Mr Brenner found you there, so he's bound to check again."

"How did he find me? And why was he looking?"

"It's a long story."

"We have time."

Mr Ballard sighed and slowly held both of my hands in both of his. "Your mother had agreed to eat the drugs—poison—from Mr Brenner...for a lot of money. When your mother was...poisoned...she became very sick. She couldn't walk, and she could barely talk. Your mother's sister...your carer...then knew that Mr Brenner was a bad man, and she figured out that his intentions were to take you away. That was when she took you and raised you in the middle of nowhere, but, as you know, Mr Brenner found you, anyway. At least your aunt—carer—salvaged most of your childhood, even if it wasn't the best."

My mouth dropped open. It was so strange to me that I was only now learning about my own life. I had always assumed things didn't need a reason, that things were just because they were. I had learnt during the past two days that people deserve freedom, and it's not normal not to have it.

Mr Ballard squeezed my hands, still in his. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," I whispered.

Then, he pulled me into him. His arms were around me, and they were cold, and so was his chest, which was now against mine. I had never embraced someone like this. Papa often hugged us, but he seemed to want to push us off as soon as he did. But Mr Ballard didn't. One arm over to my shoulder, then the back of my neck.

With my face buried into him, away from the rest of the 'world', I admitted in my head that I wasn't okay. I was overwhelmed, confused, with everything. There was just so much to process, I didn't know how I'd ever sort through all of my thoughts.

Mr Ballard then pulled back slightly, before aggressively meeting my lips with his.