Chapter One-Hundred and Twenty-Nine: Holly The Heroic

~~~Riley~~~

I climbed down the ladder first, waiting for Max and Holly at the bottom. Just as my feet hit the ground, and I took a step back from the ladder, my head jerked backwards, and suddenly I was standing in front of Will again. Blood was streaming down his face from his closed eyes.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered, reaching up with the sleeve of my jacket to wipe the blood from his face.

"Riley."

I turned around to find El standing behind me wearing some kind of wet suit.

"Are you in the tank right now?" I asked. "You made it back to the right side up?"

She nodded.

"I came here to find Will." She said. I stepped aside to reveal his current state, and she rushed forward, putting her hands on his face.

"Will? Will can you hear me?"

"Will?" I called.

"Will, wake up!" Eleven insisted. "We need to get those vines off of him. Help me?"

She held out a hand to me and I took it, both of us extending our free hands toward his body. The vines were torn free and he fell from the wall, both of us rushing forward to catch him.

He gasped, sitting up as he struggled for breath.

"Will! Will it's ok. We're here, Riley and I are here." El told him as he wrapped his arms around our necks, crushing us into a hug.

"It's ok, you're ok," I said, "I'm sorry I couldn't stop it before. I'm so sorry."

"I'm here to bring you home," El told him, "It's ok."

He pulled back to look at us.

"I tried to stop him." He said. "But I couldn't. He saw."

"He saw what, what did he see?" El questioned. My eyes widened.

"Max," I replied, "Will, it's gonna be ok, alright? Listen to me, shes trapped in Vecna's mind too, but shes almost out. I'm going to get her out, and she'll wake up, but you guys have to get reinforcements to the hospital. You have to wake up now!"

My eyes flew open, and I found Max and Holly looking at me at the bottom of the mine shaft. Max was holding a flashlight.

"We have to go. Now." I said, leading the way into the tunnel.

"Why? What's wrong?" Max asked.

"Vecna knows where you are. He'll send the demos after you. The others are on their way, but it'll be a hell of a lot easier to protect you if you're awake." I replied. I looked down at the ground, furrowing my eyebrows as I spotted a trail of blood splattered across the sand.

"Do you think someone fell?" Holly asked.

"Most likely," I confirmed, "But the fall didn't kill them, or there wouldn't be a trail."

We turned a corner and I nodded, unsurprised to see a scientist slumped against the wall, panting in pain as blood seeped from his ankle.

"It's the scientist. The one that stole the organic matter from Planet X." I said. "I read about it in Dr. Brenner's notes."

"How did you find me?" The scientist whimpered. "How did you find me?!"

He reared up a hand, exposing a bloody revolver thst he pointed directly at us. Holly jumped.

"He sees us. He sees us, how does he see us?!" Holly asked.

"He doesn't. He isn't talking to us." I said. I stepped aside, pulling Holly and Max with me to reveal someone standing behind us...a little boy in a Boy Scout uniform. He was younger here...but I still recognized him from Victor Creel's memories. Henry.

"I won't hurt you," he said, a lantern clasped in his hand, "Please Mister, don't shoot."

"Who are you?"

"Henry. Henry Creel. I live near here." Henry said. His face was innocent...his eyes wide and scared. He wasn't the boy I watched murder his family in cold blood, or the monster than had been terrorizing my life for the past five years. He was a scared kid...just like I was when he took me.

"Who sent you?!" The scientist demanded.

"Nobody sent me."

"They sent you!"

"I was in the caves, I heard a scream."

"THEY SENT YOU!"

"You're just confused! You need a doctor!"

The gun went off and I gasped, clapping a hand over my mouth as the bullet went through the palm of Henry's hand. The scientist began reloading his gun, and I watched as Henry realized what was going to happen next, terror filling his eyes. He charged forward and began trying to wrestle the gun from the scientist's hand.

"Please! Please!" He begged, tears streaming down his face. He yanked the gun from his hand, picking up a rock amd smashing it into the side of the scientist's head. I heard Holly scream behind me as he continued to beat the man to death, blood spraying over his face.

"Take her, and keep going!" I said, my eyes locked on the scene.

"What?! Why, what are you gonna do?!" Max argued.

"I need to know what happened to him." I said, not looking at her. "I have to know what made him into this. Just go!"

I saw her pull Holly past the scene, going further into the cave. As Henry dropped the rock, sobbing hysterically as he stared at the man's dead body, I could hear Holly and Max talking just around the corner.

"Hey. It's ok. It's ok." Max told her.

"Why did that man try to hurt Henry? Hurt Henry, I mean he was only trying to help."

"I don't know."

"Is this what made Henry bad?"

"I don't know.  But it's over now, ok? We have to keep moving."

I put my full focus on Henry as he pulled the silver briefcase from beneath the scientist's arm. He flipped open the clips, lifting the lid and I walked around behind him to peer inside. Smoke, which I assumed was dry ice considering the Mind Flayer's affinity for the cold, billowed oit from the case as it opened to reveal what looked like a small black stone with orange light streaked throughout it.

Henry took it into his hand, looking at it with wide eyes as the light moved inside the rock. Something eerie could be heard whispering into the air, but I couldn't make out what it said. An image tore through my head, causing me to since in pain as a saw a black cloud with a similar orange glow, floating in an unfamiliar orange sky.

"Find me." A deep voice demanded.

The vision faded, and I watched as the stone dissolved into Henry's skin, red energy seeping into his bullet wound. His head was ripped backwards ans he began screaming in pain, struggling for breath.

"You must resist it," the scientist wheezed, "It will consume you. It will consume all."

Henry looked at him before his hand shot out, almost on its own, and the scientist's eyes were sucked out of his head. He kept back, gasping in fear. He reached up, feeling his face as blood from his nose joined the scientist's blood splattered over his face. He turned, running out of the cave.

It wasn't exactly the same as Will being possessed by the Mind Flayer, his powers were and still are a direct result of that connection. Will didn't have control of his body, but it seems that the Mind Flayer entering Henry's blood stream allowed it to influence him, corrupt him, convince him to help it willingly. Was that due to the method in which he was exposed, or did the Mind Flayer sense something in Henry that made it unnecessary to completely remove his autonomy? Did the Mind Flayer ask Henry to find him, instead of forcing him to...simply because he knew that he would?

But if that's truly the case, then the question remains...

Did Henry give into the Mind Flayer of his own free will? Or is there a chance that he can still be saved?

"Riley!" I jumped as Max grabbed my shoulder. "Holly was right. The way out of Camazots...it's here."

I followed her around the corner to a collapsed tunnel full of rocks.

"Do you think you can..." max trailed off and I lifted a hand, pulling rocks away from the pile until there was a big enough opening for us to fit through. There was a bright red light glowing from behind the rocks, and I could hear the faint echos of Kate Bush's voice filtering through it.

~~~Robin~~~

The MPs had my arms behind my back, and were dragging me down the hall while Vickie trailed angrily behind us.

"Hey! Are you deaf or what?! She's in withdrawal!" She exclaimed.

"I am not on drugs!" I called over my shoulder.

"She needs to be in a hospital, not a prison amd oh, would you look at that? She's in a hospital!"

"This is Hawkins, Candy Cane. Not our first junkie." One of the soldiers said as the lights started flickering overhead. We stopped walking. "Power outage in the hospital?"

"Can't be good for granny." The other soldier joked. They both laughed, starting to drag me again.

"No, no, no, you don't understand, we need to evacuate right now." I said, skidding to a stop.

"We don't need to do anything! Keep moving, junkie!"

"IM NOT A JUNKIE!" I screamed, ripping my arms out of their grasps, "If we don't get everyone out of here right now, we are all going to die!"

"There is nothing you can say on God's green earth that is gonna keep you out of a cell!"

Vickie screamed from the end of the hall, interrupting our conversation. I whirled around to see a demo dog creeping around the corner, its mouth open wide as it roared. It went sprinting toward us, the so,died firing his gun uselessly as it tackled him to the ground and began tearing into his face.

The other solider began firing as well as I ran down Vickie, grabbing her arm and dragging her in the opposite direction. We stopped at reception as three more demo dogs approached us from all angles, and we hunkered together, screaming as they completely ignored us, making a break for the stairs.

"They're not after us." I realized.

"Huh? What?" Vickie asked. I grabbed her shoulders.

"They're nit after us." I repeated. "Do you know another way out?"

""Uh, the-the-the basement! The basement, it leads to staff parking."

I ran behind the reception desk, picking up the phone. I dialed he number for Max's room, holding the receiver to my ear.

"Come on, Lucas, pick up, pick up, pick up."

Vickie ran over, hanging up the phone.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Can those things understand English?" She asked.

"No."

"Then this doesn't need to be private." She said, hitting the intercom button she handing me to receiver again.

"Lucas, it's Robin. A demo is headed your way, do you hear me? A demo is headed your way. You need to get Max out of there now. Take the elevator, they're on the stairwell. We'll meet you in the basement."

I hung up the receiver and Vickie and I took the stairs, rushing down toward the basement. We turned the corner toward the elevator once we got there, both of us screaming in shock as Lucas appeared, holding Max's unconscious body in his arms. He had the cassette player in his hand, still blasting Kate Bush.

"They're coming, they're coming!" He shouted. "We gotta go!"

"Come on, come on!"

We turned to run back the other way when we saw a demo's shadow from around the corner, its menacing screech echoing down the hall.

"Right here! Right here!" Lucas shouted, rushing down another hallway. "What the hell is going on?! How are they finding us?!"

"I don't know, but we gotta get the hell out of here!" I screamed as Vickie ripped open the laundry room door. We rushed inside. "Shut the door, shut the door!"

Vickie slammed it shut jist as a Demo slammed into it. We ran into the adjoining room with the washers and dryers inside of it, and I sprinted to an emengency exit, pulling on it, only to find that it was locked.

"No! No!"

"This way guys! Come on, come on, come on!"

We ran over, hunkering down beside the machines. Lucas held max against his chest, and Vickie and I sat side by side. I peered around the machine as the door dented aeound the demo's head.

"I'm really sorry I thought you were a druggie." Vickie whispered.

"I'm sorry for lying to you for like, a ludicrously extended period of time." I replied. "For the record, I wasn't lying about Enzo's, and if by some miracle we survive this, I am going to take you there and we. are getting. Dessert. Deal?"

She took my hand, leaning her head against mine. I heard the door clanging, and I peered around the machine again jist as the demo busted it down. I winced, hiding my head again and squeezing my eyes shut. I glanced over at the cassette player, which was still blaring Max's song.

"We have to turn it off." I whispered, leaning aeound Vickie to look at him.

"We can't, we can't, no." He said. "Max is coming back."

"We have to."

"No, she's coming back."

~~~Riley~~~

We climbed through the hole, and sure enough there was that red landscape again. Kate Bush was louder than ever, and we walked into the water together. I took Max and Hollys hands, leading them into the dark as lightning flashed overhead.

I slowed to a stop as I saw a portal, much like the one we saw when the boys saved Max at the graveyard. Lucas was hunched against a wall, holding an unconscious, hospital-gown clad Max in his arms.

"The demos are there, we need to hurry." I said.

"Lucas." Max said, tears welling in her eyes. I glanced at her, only just realizing how long it's been since she'd seen him. I knew the feeling.

Holly started toward the portal when Max grabbed her arm, and I felt my heart lurch at the conversation I knew was coming.

"Holly, wait," Max said, "You can't come with me."

"What?" She asked. "What do you mean?"

"This way leads to me. To my body. Not yours," Max told her, "You have to find your own way."

"How? I don't have Kate Bush, I don't even know who Kate Bush is." Holly said, her voice breaking. Tears welled in my eyes and I moved behind her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders.

"You don't need Kate Bush to get out of here." Max replied. "Turns out, I don't either. Music isn't the only way back. You just need something that connects you to the real world. To home. Something powerful, meaningful. Lucas, when...when he took my hand in the hospital, I could feel it. Right here."

She held her hand between them.

"But then, I could also feel it in here." She put a hand to her heart.

"But I don't have a boyfriend."

"Hol..." I grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face me. "You don't need a boyfriend. For me, when I think of home, one of the strongest connections I have is to my sister. To El. And I know shes out there waiting for me right now, the same way Nancy and Mike are waiting for you."

"You just need something thats special to you. Something that makes you feel safe, something that brings you strength. Something that gives you hope."

Hollys hand flew to the little figurine on her necklace.

"Holly the Heroic." She said. I smiled, wiping tears from my face.

"That sounds like Mike's doing." I chuckled.

"She's here with you now," Max told her, "but she's also with you in the real world. Wherever you are, all you have to do is follow her home."

"How?" Holly asked. Max put a hand on her face.

"Just...try to remember what it is that she means to you."

"She doesn't mean anything important. Shes just a toy."

"That's not true." I said. "Come here. Let me try something."

She turned toward me and I put my hands on her face, closing my eyes until I was flitting through her memories. I searched through the, until I found one of her and Mike in her school hallway.

"I get scared sometimes too." He said.

"No you don't." Holly laughed.

"Are you kidding? Everyone in Hawkins is scared to death, and anyone who says they aren't is full of it. Like that mouth breather in your class, whats his name again?"

"Derek?"

"Yeah, Derek. He probably wets his bed every night."

Holly laughed in the memory, and it was as if I could feel her emotional state change. I felt this warm, golden glow envelope the memory.

"Do you know who I turn to when I get scared?" He asked. I watched a she took his backpack out, pulling out a DND miniature, "Mike the Brave. He goes on these adventures called dungeon crawls."

"Whats a dungeon crawl?"

"Basically, he explores these underground worlds where he fights monsters and evil wizards and sorcerers and stuff. But Mike the Brave is never scared, so, whenever I'm feeling frightened or or nervous, I just imagine that he's at my side. And I feel better. So,at be next time you get scared, you don't need this Mr. Whatsit. Maybe you just need...Holly the Heroic."

"Holly the Heroic?" She repeated.

"I was gonna wait a few more years, but..."

I smiled as he pulled out the Holly rhe Heroic figurine. She took it, examining it with a smile.

"Shes a cleric, which means she has divine powers. She can cast spells of protection to ward against evil spirits and even cooler, she can cast a dimension door, which can teleport you to anywhere you visualize.  I mean come in, can this lame-o Mr. Whatsit do any of this?"

"No," she chuckled tearfully.

"She'll keep you safe. I promise.

I opened my eyes and Holly looked at me with tears shining in her eyes.

"Mike said that if I ever got scared I could just become her," she said, "but I keep trying, and it never works."

"Never works?!" I exclaimed. "Holly Wheeler, you wandered out alone, I to what you thought were monster infested woods because your friend needed you! You found Henry's memories, you got us to this point! And then, even after you found out what Henry was, you went back into that house because the mission required it, that is heroic if I have ever seen it."

"And you can trust her, she kind of wrote the book on heroics." Max chimes in.

"Being breve doesn't mean you aren't scared," I told her, "Being brave means...clinging to the things that motivate you, make you happy, and using that to get you from one moment to the next. It's being terrified out of your mind and doing it anyway because you have to. It's taking the next steep, and the next, even if it takes everything you have jist to move an inch. That's you. I've seen it."

I put my hands on her face again only this time, I showed her all of my memories of our time together from my perspective; the pride I felt over her mind, her creativity, her bravery. She opened her eyes again, smiling up at me.

"You really see me that way?" She asked. I nodded.

"I saw your brother the same way when he was your age," I replied, "and you are just like him."

"Today, when I gave up, you didn't ," Max added, "Ive been here for so long, Holly. So long. And I could never make it out. But you...you found a way through Camazots. Because of you, I get to see my friends. I get to see Lucas. You saved me, Holly Wheeler. You saved me. So you see, Holly rhe Heroic is not just a toy. She's you, Holly. She's you."

I heard a whooshing sound come from behind Holly, and I looked up to see that across from Max's portal was Holly, her body hooked up to a s'more, with a vine protruding from her mouth. I swallowed hard, hating the idea of her waking up in there, alone.

"You still have a long journey ahead. I don't know where you're gonna wake up." Max said.

"But no matter where it is, no matter what," I said, leaning down to meet her eyes, "We're coming for you. Do you hear me?"

She wrapped her arms around my neck snd I hugged her tightly, trying not to cry.

"We'll see you on the other side." Max told her.

"Don't love that." I said, causing them to look at me. "I have a complicated history with that phrase-don't worry about it, we've already been here too long."

"On the other side." Holly chorused.

I took a deep breath, stepping back as they turned away from each other, taking odd running toward their portals. I closed my eyes,  moving through their collective memories as I attempted to guide them back into their bodies.

~~~Steve~~~

Once the dripping stopped, Dustin and I rushed upstairs, now on so,I'd ground. We could hear voices coming from one of the rooms, but the door wouldn't budge, so I grabbed a fire extinguisher and smashed a hole into the wall.

I peered theough it to see Nancy, Jonathan, Amber, and Eddie all looking at me with relieved expressions.

"Sorry we're late." I said.

Nancy rushed over first, snd I took her hand, helping her out of the hole.

"You ok?" I asked.

"Yeah. We're ok." She said, stepping out beside me. Dustin looked at her for a second before attacking her in a hug. I helped Amber out next, followed by Jonathan.

"Was that weird?" Dustin asked. "I'm sorry. That was weird. I didn't...we just...we both thought-"

"We were goners," Nancy finished for him, "Yeah, we did too."

"The jury's still out in this one."

I looked up as Eddie appeared in the hole, holding Riley's unconscious body in his arms. My heart dropped.

"Riley?!" I exclaimed, my voice shaking as I reached theough the hole, taking her from his arms. I carried her away from the others, setting her down on the floor and cradling her body in my lap. "How long has she been like this?"

"The whole time," Amber said somberly, "The rest of us woke up but...she never did."

I looked up at Dustin, who looked as terrified as I felt. I put a hand on her face, ignoring the wet my hands were violently shaking.

"Riley? Hey, Barbie? You gotta wake up." I said, lightly shaking her shoulders. "Come on..."

"She's still breathing," Amber said, taking her wrist snd pressing two fingers against it, "and she has a pulse, so she's alive."

"Then why isn't she waking up?" Eddie asked.

"Before, she could go into Vecna's visions in her sleep," I said, "Maybe she ended up with Max and Holly again."

"So then how do we wake her up?" Jonathan asked. I shook my head.

"I don't...I don't know," I said, "I mean, what if it's like Max, what if she never wakes up-"

"Steve..." Amber said gently.

"I just got her back!" I exclaimed. "She was back, she was ok, I don't-I can't lose her again."

"You haven't lost her," Amber said, "We just have to figure out-"

Riley gasped, her eyes flying open as she sat up in my arms, blood dripping from her nose as she looked around wildly.

"Oh my..." Dustin put his hands on his knees, hunching over as Riley met my eyes, no doubt noticing the tears in them.

"Hey, HAIRington." she said softly. I shook my head, holding her body against mine. "Steve, you're shaking."

"I almost lost you again." I whispered. "Please don't do that to me, Barbie, you can't...I can't do it again."

I met Dustin's eyes, giving him an apologetic look as I realized I know exactly how he feels. He nodded, holding back his own tears.

"It's ok, Steve. I'm ok." She said, putting a hand on the back of my head. "I'm ok...if a little crusty, what the hell is all over me?!"

"It's...a long story." Nancy chimed in.