mercy ; peter ballard

24. s u n s e t z

she returned to max's side and sat back in her chair. she held max's casted hand and just talked to her. max looked so peaceful. she didn't know what she was thinking, if she was even thinking at all.

"i don't know if you can actually hear this, but i miss you like hell. we all do," bea sniffled. "i was supposed to be there for you and i wasn't. i'm so sorry, lovely. i gotta go meet with robin. i'll be back tomorrow."

bea stood up, wiping her face. she planted a kiss to max's forehead before grabbing her bag. "bye, lovely. love you."

peter could see she was breaking and it broke his heart. but he knew what had to be done. these were the sacrifices he had to make. by losing the last of his humanity, he could secure his family. however, he never could lose that last drop of humanity.

though becoming vecna, a part of him has always been human. he could never rid himself of it, even if he tried. it always tried to pull him back to the light.

max hung up on a pillar next to fred and chrissy. unlike fred and chrissy, she still had something left. a glimpse of life. even peter was baffled by it at first. she was still alive, just divided. her body and mind were in different places.

peter watched bea leave the hospital room. when he focused enough, he could see a glimpse into the overworld through the same portal max had previously escaped from. max is body was still living, the heart monitor beating rhythmically. however, her mind was separated, trapped in vecna's mindscape.

vecna closed the portal as max vaguely watched, exhausted from being there for almost a month. most of the time she was in a nightmare that repeated all the time. it was like her own personal hell. she didn't know how she survived, but she did.

her mouth was covered by a cluster of vines so she wouldn't disturb him if she could fully wake. she could see him begin to pace. he could sense she was semi-conscious.

"did you know that she's my wife, maxine?" vecna questioned, staring at her as he slowly walked around. "i bet she never told you guys that. i guess being the wife of a monster isn't the greatest thing."

max tried to drowsily move, but she couldn't get out of his grip. she could only stay put and listen to whatever he had to say.

"we were going to leave everything behind, have children and what not. she wanted children so badly, but the lab prevented it. if they had found out we had a relationship, they would've locked us away again. if we had a child, they would've taken them away from us, tested them for their powers, and use them as weapons."

max never knew the extent that bea struggled in the lab. she knew she even couldn't imagine it. now she understood why she took everyone in as her own. how she could love people in the worst circumstances. because she wanted to give what she couldn't have. she couldn't be a mother, so she would be a mother figure for those who needed it.

"no matter how badly bea wanted it, she couldn't bear to see her own flesh and blood turned to a military weapon," he spoke, intently.

he stopped pacing and looked at max. "i had found a way for us to guarantee our happy ending in a world where nothing could touch her, hurt her. i took that power for her. i made those sick men pay for what they did to her. i did what i had to for her. bea ran and eleven tried to stop me, but she opened the door. the door to the future for my family. if i have to watch the world burn, the only thing that matters is her."