11| In Danger

"It was here. Right here." Max pleaded, shining her light on the wall as the rest of the group stood behind her. "A grandfather clock?" Nancy asked, her tone coming off as disbelief, making y/n wince. They loved Nancy but sometimes she was intolerable to people and came across as harsh which she strongly disliked, especially the time she had shut the door on Dustin when he had offered the last few slices of pizza. "It was so real. And then, when I got closer suddenly I just...I woke up." Max said, looking at Steve, Y/n and Dustin who had witnessed her in the trance. "We...we had to shake her a couple times and called her name, but she didn't respond..." Y/n said quietly, remembering what Eddie had said about Chrissy and mirroring Max's confusion. "It was like she was in a trance or something. Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy..." Dustin finished, the group dead silent. Max turned around to face the group, lowering her flashlight.

"That's not even the bad part..."

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"Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Ms. Kelley for help. Uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then...then the nightmares, trouble sleeping - they'd wake up in a cold sweat. Then they started seeing things. Bad things, from their pasts. And these visions, they just...they kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually...everything ended." Max explained, panicking slightly. "Vecna's curse." Y/n said, looking over in worry. "Chrissy's headaches started a week ago. Fred's six days ago. I've been having them for five days. I don't know how long I have. All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than twenty-four hours after their first vision. And I just saw that goddamn clock, so...looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow." Max cried, everyone jumping as they heard a clank in the distance. "Stay here." Steve said, grabbing the lamp and walking out. Y/n scoffed and shook their head, walking out after. "He wouldn't do shit if someone was here, come on." they admitted, as everyone looked at them before agreeing and following.

Steve slowly walked forward, clutching the lamp securely in his hands. The group quietly shuffling out so he wouldn't notice. The footsteps running down the hall to them got rapidly louder. Lucas appeared, screaming at Steve which made him and the group all yell, Steve stepping back. "It's me!" Lucas yelled, putting his hands out in front of him, looking at Steve. "Lucas?" Y/n breathed out, stepping forward and pulling the boy in for a hug. "Jesus, what's wrong with you Sinclair? I could've taken you out with this lamp!" Steve shouted, earning snorts from the group. "I'm sorry! Sorry, guys, sorry." Lucas panted, trying to catch his breath. "I was...I was biking for eight miles. Give me one second, shit. We've got a code red." Lucas told them, turning to Y/n and Dustin. "I've been with Jason, Patrick, and Andy, and they've gone like totally off the rails. They're trying to capture Eddie, and they think you guys know where he is. You're in terrible danger." he explained, hoping he remembered everything. "All right, yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason right now." Dustin said, looking at Max.

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"Okay, be honest, uh...you guys understand any of this?" Steve questioned, Lucas shaking his head. "Pretty straightforward." Y/n teased, Dustin agreeing as Steve looked at the pair, placing his hand on his hip. "Oh, straightforward, really?" Steve asked, biting his cheek. "what's confusing to you? So far, everyone Vecna has cursed has died, except for this old Victor Creel dude Nancy found. He's the only known survivor. If anyone knows how to beat this curse, it's him." Dustin responded as if it was the simplest thing ever. "That's assuming he was cursed Henderson, which we don't even know." Steve added. Lucas shook his head, reading it again. "How can Vecna have existed in the fifties? It doesn't make sense." Steve huffed, scratching his head.

"As far as we know, Eleven didn't create the upside down. She opened a gate to it. The upside down has probably been around for thousands of years. Millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs." Dustin said, everyone stopping him as he started going too far. "But if a gate didn't exist in the fifties, how did Vecna get through? And why now?" Lucas questioned. "How's he getting through now? And why then? Just pops out in the fifties, kills one family, and he's like, 'I'm good.', and poof, he just disappears. Just...gone? Only to return thirty years later and start killing random teens? Na, I don't buy it." Steve grumbled, shaking his head. "Straightforward, my ass. You know, honestly Henderson, a little humility now and then, it wouldn't hurt you." Steve scolded, pointing at Dustin. "Watch it Harrington." Y/n commented, glaring up at him. Steve sat down in the arm chair, looking at them. Y/n's attention turned to Max, watching her in concern. "Any idea what she's writing?" Dustin questioned, looking at his friend. "Did she sleep?" he commented, earning a slap on his arm from Y/n and a scowl. "I mean, would you?" Lucas grumbled, Nancy and Robin coming down the stairs.

"Okay, so...we have a plan!" Nancy smiled, looking at the boys and Y/n. Nancy pulled out a book, looking through it. "Thanks to Nancy's newspaper minions, we are now rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame, along with Y/n! I'm now Ruth, Robin is Rose, and Y/n is Riley." they said, Y/n nodding and listening. "Ruth?" Steve questioned, Nancy smiling. Dustin looked at the documents, surprised. "Nice GPA." he complimented, Nancy thanking him. "So, we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we'd like to speak with Victor Creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics-" Nancy paused, being cut off by Robin. "To which they said no." Robin finished, huffing. "But we landed a three o'clock with the director, now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor." Robin told them, hopeful. "Then maybe we can rid Max of this curse, and somehow clear Eddie's name." Y/n muttered, the two nodding.

"Yeah, uh about that. We've been doing our Victor Creel homework, and, uh we got some questions. Lots of questions." Steve and Lucas admitted, the girls nodding. "So do we. Hopefully, Victor has the answers." Nancy reminded, handing Robin and Y/n their documents. "Wait...wait...wait a second. Uh...where's mine?" Steve asked, Nancy smiling at him.

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"Nancy, you're outta your mind if you think I'm babysitting again." Steve argued, stumbling in after her. "Okay, first of all, they're not babies anymore. And Max is in real danger, she needs people around her." Nancy responded, opening her wardrobe. "I know, but why does it always have to be me?" Steve huffed, Robin and y/n running into the room. "Oh my God, you have a Tom Cruise poster!" Robin squealed. "You have a Tom Cruise poster." she repeated, looking at Y/n knowingly. "That's...old." Nancy defended, searching through her clothes. "Can you please not touch anything?" Nancy snapped, regretting it as she saw Robin's face and Y/n's glare.

 "I can't do anything here, Nance. I... Maybe I can be helpful with this asylum director dude. I don't know. I could turn on my...my charm." Steve tried to persuade, not getting anywhere with it. "Not the charm we need." Nancy said, Steve wincing and looking hurt. "I did a little digging last night, and it turns out this Dr. Hatch is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Harvard visiting scholar, okay? This is a lifelong student of the world. if we're gonna win him over, we're gonna have to convince him we are too. That like him...we are true academic scholars" Nancy finished, Y/n taking the jewellery box out of Robin's hands softly. "Academic scholar? They are giving you an academic scholar vibe? yeah." Steve huffed as she half agreed. "No, but..." she started, pulling out two slightly old, frilly and preppy outfits she had stored, with matching shoes. "...they will." she finished, grinning at the two who looked horrified.

"Oh, please, tell me you're joking."