thirty five

-

Y/N WAS STILL SHAKEN UP, explaining everything to them the next morning.

max calling el, mike, and will. but nobody answered.

"he showed me things that haven't happened yet." y/n explained in a quiet voice, as max held her hand, and was rubbing y/n's hand with her thumb.

"the most awful things." y/n continued, still shaken up. "i saw a dark cloud spreading over hawkins. downtown on fire. dead soldiers. and this.. giant creature with a gaping mouth. and this creature wasn't alone. there were so many monsters. an army. and they were coming into hawkins. into our neighborhoods. our homes. and then.. he showed me my mom. and she.. she was.."

y/n began to tear up, and break down, still scared after what happened.

"okay, but.. he's just trying to scare you, y/n." steve reminds her. "right? i mean.. i mean, it's not real."

"not yet." y/n corrects. "but there.. there was something else. he showed me gates. four gates. spreading across hawkins. and these gates, they looked like the one outside of eddie's trailer but.. they didn't stop growing. and this wasn't the upside down hawkins. this was our hawkins. our home."

"four chimes." max realizes. "vecna's clock. it always chimes four times. four exactly."

"i heard them too." y/n says, relating.

"he's been telling us his plan this whole time." max tells them.

"four kills." lucas speaks. "four gates. end of the world."

"if that's true.." dustin begins. "he's only one kill away."

"oh, jesus christ." eddie mumbles in fear.

"try 'em again." steve instructs max referring to el, mike, and will.

max goes over to the phone, and dials the number. she tried calling them, but no answer.

"anything?" dustin asks.

"no." max frustratedly replies. "rang a few times and gave a busy signal."

el, however, just got into her void, and she was watching over them.

"maybe you punched it wrong." steve suggests. "try again."

"i didn't punch it in wrong." max argues.

"well, i don't know." steve admits.

"dude, i think she knows how to use a phone." dustin reminds steve.

"i'm just saying, she could've typed it in wrong." steve defends.

max called again, and the phone rang, but it gave another busy signal.

"same shit." max frustratedly says as she walks away from the phone.

"how is that possible?" lucas asks.

"i told you. joyce has this telemarketer job. always on the phone. mike won't stop whining about it." dustin says.

"yeah, but this phones been busy for, what, three days now?" max reminds them. "that's not joyce. no way. something's wrong."

el watched them talk, through the void, seeing how shaken up y/n was.

"she's right." nancy admits. "it can't be just a coincidence. it can't be. whatever's happening in lenora is connected to all of this. i'm sure of it. but vecna can't hurt them. not if he's dead."

y/n then turns around to them, facing everyone else.

"we have to go back in there. back to the upside down." y/n tells them.

steve and eddie started arguing against it, not agreeing with y/n

"let's think this through." steve says.

"what is there to think through?" y/n argues.

"we barely made it out of there in one piece." steve reminds her.

"yeah, because we weren't prepared." y/n responds. "but this time, we will be. we'll get weapons and protection. we'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him."

"or he'll kill us." steve argues. "the only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. he's not scared of us."

"and for good reason." robin stands up. "we were wrong about vecna. henry. one. sorry, what are we calling him now?"

"one." dustin and lucas reply.

"vecna." erica corrects.

"one." lucas argues.

"henry." nancy decides.

"right." robin gets back on track. "we've learned something new about vecna/henry/one. he's a number like eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin. but my.. my point is, he's super powerful. he could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. it's not a fair fight."

"so, then why fight fair?" dustin asks. "you're right. he's like eleven. but that gives us an upper hand. we know eleven's strengths. and weaknesses."

"weaknesses?" erica asks.

"when el remote-travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state." dustin explains. "i bet the same is true with vecna."

"that would explain what he was doing in that attic." lucas says.

"exactly." dustin agrees. "when he attacks his next victim, i'll bet you he's back in that attic, physical body defenseless."

"defenseless?" steve asks. "what about the army of bats?"

"true." dustin admits. "we'll have to find a way past them. distract them somehow."

"and, uh, how do we do that, exactly?" eddie asks.

"no idea." dustin replies. "but once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance. it'll be like slaying sleeping dracula in his coffin."

"that all sounds good in theory." robin admits. "but there is no pattern to vecna's killings. i mean, at least not one that i can decipher. we don't know when he's going to attack next. we don't even know who he's going to attack."

"yeah, we do." max speaks up. "i can still feel him. i'm still marked. cursed. i ditch kate bush, i draw his focus back to me."

"i can help." y/n stepped up. "i'll draw his focus to me too, he might take the bait."

"guys.." lucas begins. "you can't. he'll kill you both."

"i survived before." max speaks up. "i bet y/n can too, she basically did. and i can survive again."

"we just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic." y/n explains.

"then you can chop his head off." max suggested. "stab him in the heart. blow him up with some explosive dustin cooks up. i honestly really don't care how you put this asshole in his grave. just.. whatever it is.. whatever you do.. try not to miss."

el looked at them as she watched through the void, in shock and horror, hoping they didn't go through with this.

-

all of them were in the rv, going to a place to get weapons.

max leaned on the seat, looking out of the window as her music played.

y/n looked over at max, seeing how lonely she looked, then she got up from his seat, and sat down next to max.

"hey." y/n says as he sat down next to max.

max spotted y/n sitting down next to her, she took off her headphones, and paused her music.

"i'm not gonna lie, i'm scared." y/n admitted.

"it's simple, it's like he only sees the darkness in us." max says. "so, i'll just run in the opposite direction. run to the light."

max focused on looking out of the window, as she continued talking.

"and, maybe he won't be able to find me there." max continued.

"how exactly do you plan on doing this?" y/n asks her in confusion.

max looks around. "i'm not sure." then, max looked down. "but it's my mind. not his, right? so i should be able to control where i am. i just need to.. push him away. find a happy memory, and hide there."

"hide in the light." max finished.

"you got a memory in mind?" y/n curiously asks.

max nods her head, as she recalled the memory, a small smile appearing on her face.

"it was a time when i was.. happier." max says.

"was.. i there?" y/n asked, with a smirk on her face.

max looked at y/n, with a blush appearing on her face, and looking away, then back at y/n.

"that's presumptuous of you." max joked with a smile. "but, yeah, you might've been there."

-

after they got their weapons, nancy was sawing her gun in half, as max watched.

"is this legal?" max asks.

"actually, i think it's a felony." nancy admits.

"right." max says.

"but it guarantees one thing." nancy says. "i won't miss."

-

they continued driving in the rv, to the creel house, as max played running up that hill in her headphones.

they were all scared to do this, they were prepared, but scared.

max anxiously looked out of the window. she had to do this, and so did y/n

even if it meant risking her life.

they arrived at the house, steve stopped the rv, so y/n, max, lucas, and erica could go out.

max took off her headphones, and wore them around her neck, as she stopped her music.

y/n was last to get out, she shut the door, then turned around to see the creel house in front of her.

lucas, erica, y/n, and max paused, preparing themselves with what they were about to do.

y/n and max stood next to each other, in front of lucas and erica.

y/n and max glanced at each other, max sighed, then looked back at the house.

max grabbed onto y/n's hand, preparing herself.

the four of them started walking towards the house in sync.

they reached the stairs, max getting more nervous as she kept walking.

there was no going back now. she needed to do this. to save everyone, to save her friends.

and y/n had to do this too, to save max from this curse.

max twisted the knob on the front door, anxious.

the four of them walked into the house, with y/n shutting the door, and them turning their blue lanterns on.

-