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

Journey

Once we reached the stables, Henry showed me what he had in mind. A magnificent, classical carriage on wheels was situated on the gravel entrance out front. I beamed.

"Does our mode of transportation satisfy your taste, my lady?" Henry asked sarcastically.

"Absolutely."

"Except, it's missing one key factor, is it not?"

"The horses," I answered with a smile, knowing he was about to show me to them.

Henry guided me to the stables and led out each horse. He showed me how to secure their reigns to the carriage, and we did so with each one; four in total. Then, we placed our babies and belongings inside the carriage, and stepped inside.

It was beautiful inside. Small but cozy, but big enough to lay twenty of the babies on the floor, and ten on a bench opposite Henry and me. The two benches were quilted plush, the walls were decorated with fine detail, and the windows either side were dressed with burgundy velvet curtains. Once we were all settled, we began our journey, and you wouldn't believe who the coachman was—the Demogorgon...with the blanketed cage strapped to his back.

Henry and I chatted for about an hour, flicking through the book of Fiji islands until we settled on our favourite. Unfortunately, I didn't find any photographs or descriptions of zoos on any pages of the book, though. "Once we get to the edge of our land, how will we cross the sea to the island?" I asked anyway.

"Unlike you, I read a lot of books while I was at the lab. Of course, I spent a lot of my life out in the real world before Mr Brenner brought me to the lab. Because of that, couldn't keep things from me. I already knew about what existed on the outside, which was why he had no choice but to implant me with the Soteria device. But, that meant there was no point in not trusting me with informational books. I had no way of escaping anyway, no matter how much I longed for it, so it made no difference...or so he thought at the time. The only rule was that I wasn't allowed to relay information about the outside world to the other test subjects who knew so little of it...meaning all of you. But, I digress. With so much free time on my hands, I made the most of these reading privileges. I learnt skills. Not that I often got to put them to practice, but...in theory I know how to navigate a boat."

"So you've never actually done it before, though?"

"No."

I thought for a moment. "It's okay, I trust you," I said. "You conquered the world, I'm sure you can drive a boat."

*

I don't recall how long it was until we reached the sea, but by the time we arrived, we were itching to get out of the carriage, as lovely as it was. I had been fretting on the way there about the Eleven situation. What if she had woken up? But, the first thing I did was check once we exited the carriage, and there was no such sign. I didn't want to lift the blanket of the cage in case Henry saw, but I listened beside it for any noise, which I didn't hear. The Demogorgon also nodded at me in reassurance, understanding my concern.

"What is that under there?" Henry asked, glancing over at us and the blanket-covered cage.

"I just packed some more of our belongings," I lied.

"But what's with the drapery?"

"Um, it's just more aesthetically pleasing."

Many abandoned boats lay still on the waterfront, and Henry evaluated them, choosing which one was most suited to us. Most suited to his knowledge, and easiest for us to access.

"This one will do."

It was a massive boat...a ship. We transported our horses, carriage, Demogorgon, and ourselves onto it. I indicated subtly with the movements of my eyes for the Demogorgon to place the cage down on a different compartment of the ship, far from where Henry and I would be staying, in the wheelhouse.

At first, I was concerned. Henry appeared concentrated, fiddling around with the controls. I was afraid he wouldn't be able to do it, until we started moving.

I grinned. "Phew."

Henry smiled back. "Why are you so relieved? I thought you trusted me."

*

There were refreshments on the ship. Of course, we had to be careful about what was still in date, but many of the things, such as the biscuits and sparkling drinks, had long shelf lives. It was the first time I had eaten human food in such a long time. Well, I suppose I had been eating "human food"...just in another sense. But, that's besides the point. It felt so unusual to try it again. The biscuits felt almost like kibble for pets compared to the meat I'd been eating which had given me so much strength and power in the Upside Down. But the biscuits still felt good; simple, innocent.

The food wasn't the most memorable part of the trip, though. It was seeing the ocean for the first time since childhood. The only memory I'd had of it was from before the lab, when I'd lived with my aunt, isolated from society, to keep me safe. I'd played in the ocean alone every day. It had such a strong place in my heart. Before revisiting it on this trip, my memories of the ocean had almost felt like a fever dream...unreal. As if, maybe, it had never even existed, and was just some magical false memory I'd invented to fill in the gaps of my unfulfilled childhood. Of course, logically, I knew it did exist. Henry and I had talked about it and, since leaving the lab, I had read many books where it was described, and seen many pictures. But, that's just what it had felt like. Now, though, it had come back to life, as beautiful as ever. When I looked out of the ship's front panoramic windows, the ocean seemed infinite. I was in the middle of it, not just as the shore like I was when I was a child. Now, all I could see was the water. It had went from feeling as if it never really existed at all, to feeling now like it was the only thing in the world.

At one point during the journey, I went to go and relieve myself in the toilet, but, as I was on my way, my heart dropped upon noticing a muffling sound coming from the direction of Eleven's cage...