26. Phase Three

A.N. Hello my lovely readers,

And here we are, Phase Three, so far so good.... right?

I guess you've all been spared, yet another chapter before we dive into the tear jerkers. But I am here to let you all know that this chapter will have a lot of back and forth povs to match the same intense feeling we all felt while watching the greatest metal performance of all time!

Just for the sake of simplicity, I have divided each quick pov by the character's names, but once it gets back to fuller lengths it'll be divided as per usual.

Enjoy, as this is the last chapter you will get before all the heart wrenching reading begins.

Xoxo,Nik <3

☾.˚˖⁺✦ Phase Three ✦˙⊹˚☽

TW // Horror

Song Guide: Master of Puppets by Metallica

"She's in. Move on to phase three.", radioed Robin.

Victoria's heart sunk. This was it. The moment she was dreading. Vecna had taken the bait which meant it was their turn to continue the plan.

"Copy that. Initiating phase three.", Dustin copied over.

Dustin ran over grasping one side of the extension cord as Victoria had the amp cord in hand. They connected the two together. "Let's hope they hear this."

Victoria turned the nob to maximum volume as the feedback began to crackle loudly. "Okay, E, this is all you!"

Eddie nodded his head towards her. There was the slightest bit of a smile on his face, the tiniest part of him excited. She smiled toward him. "Go kill it."

He grasped onto the pick that always hung around his neck. Funny enough, it was the only thing he kept in remembrance of his mother. It had been hers when she was about Eddie's age that she used in her own band.

Eddie took the guitar pick everywhere with him. He always said one day desperate measures would knock on his door and he'd be ready with the power of his mom's metal guitar pick.

Well, the day has come.

He yanked the pick off from around his neck.

"Chrissy,", he paused sharing a painful sad look with Victoria, "this is for you."

He began to strum filling the void of their ghastly surrounding. Victoria knew right off the bat the exact song he was playing, Master of Puppets. A excited grin grew onto her face, it was enough of an excitement to make her slightly forget what was yet to come.

Dustin tugged her to crouch down beside him. They watched as Eddie was having the time of his life performing.

Performing for all of the Upside Down to hear.

Despite the circumstances, Victoria was happy. She felt such joy being able to be there during the best moment of Eddie's life. She always feared she would miss it, but nope, she was there watching it as close as anyone could ever get.

Dustin and Victoria began bobbing their heads to the song as Eddie performed the most metal concert in history of metal concerts.

Steve

The sounding of the creatures screeching caused the three of them to jump. They all turned to see the bats had fallen for the trap. Each single one that had been surrounding the Creel home was now on their way over to Victoria, Dustin, and Eddie.

"Okay, it's working. Let's go.", Nancy ordered.

Steve hung tight underneath the slide for a few more seconds with his eyes glued onto the swarm of bats flying the opposite direction. His stomach turning into twists. He was clinging on to one hope, that nothing would happen to Victoria and Dustin and even Eddie.

"Steve, come on!"

"Coming."

Nancy led the way as they all marched their way up to the doorstep of where soon enough they would be face to face with Vecna himself, at least they hoped.

Max

Max ran as quickly as she could down the stairwell. Her eyes targeting the front door for her escape. Swinging the door open she was caught aback as the entryway was boarded shut.

Frantically glancing around her, she needed another way out.

"Where are you going, Maxine?", bellowed the voice of Vecna.

She turned finding him to be stood on the top of the stairs.

Okay, Max, don't panic, just run, she told herself.

It almost felt as if her feet had a mind of its own because she found herself sprinting into the next room.

The lights in the house began to flicker rapidly. Max saw another possible door that can lead to her exit. Swinging it open she was met with another boarded up exit way.

Shit. Shit. Shit. She began to panic.

Wrapping her fingers around the plywood, she began to pull back in hopes that it would come free.

Dustin

Dustin began to look down at his watch, following along each second that went by. It was odd that there was still no sign of any bats. Not even one.

He looked up at his sister watching her jam out to the music being played by Eddie. This had been one of the first times in the past couple of days he had truly seen her with not a sense of worry. Enjoying the present moment.

Afraid to ruin this for her, he kept his doubts to himself. He grabbed hold of the binoculars to look up into the red booming sky.

No bats.

"How's it looking, Dustin?", his sister questioned, catching him off guard.

"Uh..."

Still no sight of the bats.

Max

Max continued running, door to door. Some opening to boarded plywood blocking her way and others being sealed closed unable to open. She was feeling her panic rise.

Coming up to the next door, she swung it wide open like the others, but this one was different.

Billy was there.

Behind this door, was another door. The same one they had locked Billy in 9 months prior when he had been possessed by the Mind Flayer.

"Max! Let me out of here!", he shouted.

It's not real, she told herself, he's not real.

"Max, open the door!"

The red headed girl turned to run the opposite way, but she was trapped. The same door she came through was now blocked off.

"Open the door!"

Billy smashed through the glass window as he tried to reach after the girl. She stumbled backwards scared that he could somehow reach her. His yells caused Max to tremble in remembrance of what happened that same exact night, a ruthless monster clawing it's way out.

Victoria

The shrieks sounded from the distance as goosebumps covered every inch of Victoria's body. Dustin held up his binoculars as he saw them far out, it was a swarm. "Let me have a look..."

He handed the binoculars to Victoria as he yelled at the older boy. "Eddie! We gotta lock down in T-minus 30 seconds!"

Taking a look out into the sky.

At first, she only saw the dark skies. That was up until the red lightning lit up the Upside Down revealing the horrendous creatures making their way to them. There were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them.

Victoria wasn't sure exactly what she expected, but she would have never imagined it to be this many. She swallowed hard as her grip on the binoculars became shaky.

Max

Billy began to yell with all his might as he threw himself against the door in attempt to knock it down. Max froze as she stared at her once brother trying to break through.

Her heart was racing out of her chest. Her palms were filling of nervous sweat.

Come on, Max, think, she told herself.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Came the sounds of Billy's body slams against the door. She looked back at the door, noticing it bend as the gap between the door and the chains began to grow wider.

Victoria

The bats were closing in as Victoria kept her eyes on them. "20 seconds, Dustin..."

Dustin yelled on the top of his lungs, "T-MINUS 20!!!"

Eddie turned to look at them as he nodded his head. Victoria listened as he began his big solomoment.

Each chord played was each second growing closer of the bats arriving.

Max

"Max! Let me out!", Billy screamed angrily as he continued to push his way through the door, "Max! Max!"

All the young girl could think of doing was shutting her eyes and think of her all time favorite memory. This was the memory she had set her mind on during the drive to War Zone earlier that day.

The one that Lucas was practically begging to know what it was, but that was only for her to know.

She began to think of the start of class that day up to the point when her mom was helping her get ready for the dance. It had been one of the rare occasions that they both shared a nice moment together. One of the cherished times with her mother, she hadn't seen her smile as wide as she did until that same day.

The voice of Victoria began to echo into her mind. "You control where you want to be. So, stay in the happy thoughts, alright?"

Then the vivid memory flashed, it was her and Lucas dancing.

Lucas.

He was her happy place. This memory was the start of when she fell hard for him.

Dustin

"Okay, I think, it's uh, time to go now!", came Victoria's panicked voice.

Dustin shook his head at her. The binoculars were no longer needed to see the bats, they were as clear as ever. He looked over at Eddie, who didn't have a single care in the world. The older boy was dialed in on his performance.

Dustin knew the song fairly well, so he knew it was at least a few more seconds till Eddie reached the end. He couldn't take this moment away from his friend.

"He's almost finished...", he pleaded with his sister.

"Dustin!"

He could see the enlarged eyes of fear his sister had as she kept looking between him and the bats every second.

"Please. We have at least 10 more seconds."

Victoria caved. "Fine."

"T-MINUS 10!"

Max

Max squeezed her eyes tightly trying to tune out the noise of Billy trying to break through.

Stay focused, you are in control, she thought to herself.

The red headed girl thought of how she initiated her first kiss knowing Lucas was too timid to do so. She recalled the exact song they were dancing to as they swayed side to side with the biggest childish grins on their faces.

It was just her and Lucas and no one else.

This was her happy place.

Victoria

"Five!", both Dustin and Victoria yelled after Eddie.

The chittering noises were getting louder and louder. "Oh, my god."

She looked back and forth to the bats and Eddie, they were cutting it too close.

"Dustin..."

"Just a few more seconds..", he pleaded as he held onto her hand tightly.

Max

Max felt the gush of wind against her cheeks, knowing well enough that the door had been broken down by Billy, but nonetheless, she wasn't letting that scare her.

Billy didn't scare her anymore because he was gone.

And in this moment.

It was her and Lucas.

Her and Lucas, only.

She felt the world around her change as she widened her eyes. Max did it. Thinking about her favorite memory took her to that exact moment. She was at the Hawkins Middle School Snow Ball Dance, right on the dance floor.

A wide smile grew as she sighed in relief. "Holy shit."

☾.˚˖⁺✦˙⊹˚☽Victoria's Pov

Victoria now shouted before Dustin did, "ONE!"

She tugged on her brother's arms, pushing him to hop off the roof first. Her priority was to get Dustin to safety. "Go! Go! Go!"

Turning back to see Eddie as he was trying to gently lay down his guitar. "EDDIE!"

"But—-"

She ran after him as she dragged the older boy away, pushing him down onto the car that was used as their step down.

Taking one look upwards, she froze at the sight of the swarm of bats beginning their decent towards them. She felt Eddie tug her leg causing her to lose her balance as she fell back. "Move! Move! Mov- SHIT!"

He caught her before she fell off the trailer. "Seriously!"

"Sorry!"

"Eddie! Victoria! Come on!", Dustin yelled with urge in his tone.

Reaching the ground they all ran around the corner of the trailer turning into the fenced up entrance they had created. "Let's go!"

Victoria was the last one in as Eddie gave her an arm pull of a lifetime inside before the bats could get to her. He slammed the door shut as the creatures began flying into the fence causing Victoria to yelp.

It was all happening so quickly.

Dustin yelled behind them. "Hurry! Come on."

Dustin grabbed hold of Victoria's hand pulling her into the trailer as she dragged Eddie inside with her. The younger boy slammed the door shut as Victoria and Eddie leaned against the wall beside Dustin, gasping for air.

"Fuck.", let out Victoria.

"Dude", Dustin let out turning to look at Eddie, "Most metal ever!"

The two boys began hollering on the top of their lungs out of excitement as they hopped up and down. The brunette girl was still too stunned to even react to what they were freaking out about.

They both paused in place, glancing over to her. The boys gave one look of agreement to one another as they began hopping and screaming around Victoria until she finally did the same.

Laughter escaped her mouth as the three of them chaotically jumped around. Joining the victory scream and jump felt good for a change. Perhaps, things were going to turn out to be a win for all of them.

Hearing the cluttering sounds of bangs against the trailer startled the three of them as they fell silent. "Um, guys, what do we do now?"

"Shit... We didn't think this far, did we?", Eddie replied as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Another loud thud filled the silence of the trailer, Victoria jumped. Catching sight of her brother's thinking face, she knew he was up to something. "Spit it out."

He shook his head at her. "You're not gonna like it."

Eddie thumped the back of Dustin's head. "Yeah, well, sounds like I would."

The younger boy pursed his lips together as he pointed around them. "We're gonna have to keep them here in order to give the others enough time to act right?"

Victoria sighed knowing what this meant.

"And no more metal performance, right?"

"Uh, huhhhh. You tryna bore us and the bats to death, come on dude!"

Dustin made his squirming face when he wasn't sure if something was a good idea which typically was 90% of the time. "We're going to have to make as much noise as we can in order to keep the bats occupied."

Instead of hating this plan. Victoria had come to terms with their situation. It was time to welcome the chaos.

The brunette girl shut her eyes as she exhaled a loud breath. "Well.... AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

She let out the loudest scream she kept buried inside of her, defusing all the stress and worry she built up the past few days.

The other two boys looked at each other startled by what had been released from her mouth, but evidently they both joined in.

☾.˚˖⁺✦˙⊹˚☽Steve's Pov

It was oddly quiet now. Not a single sound, except the noises of them walking up to the house.

Steve looked upwards to make sure there hadn't been any bats hanging around, but for once the coast was clear.

They approached the front door as Steve pushed it wide open to reveal the heart of hive minds scattered all around the interior of the Creel home. "Oh, shit. That's not good."

He shined his flashlight around trying to think what would be the best way to go about entering. Taking a few deep breaths, he glanced backwards in hopes someone would stop him from going in. No one did.

Ugh, fuck me, he groaned.

Steve examined quickly all the open spaces as he began to hop into them avoiding the vines. He was doing great up until he felt something slimy under his shoe, almost causing him to fall back. "Shit."

Steadying himself back up, he took a few more deep breaths as he continued onwards towards the stairwell. He glanced back to see if Nancy or Robin had began only to find Robin holding onto Nancy's hand.

By her body language, he could tell she was scared. He opened his mouth to say something to her, but Nancy had beat him to it.

"It's okay,", she told Robin, "You got this."

Robin nodded her head as she began to step through the same gaps that Steve had. The auburn haired girl looked up at him with wide eyes, he gave her a reassuring head nod as he reached his arms out to grab once she made it close enough. Nancy followed close behind.

☾.˚˖⁺✦˙⊹˚☽Max's Pov

The young girl had taken a seat at one of the round tables as she listened to Every Breath You Take play into the room. It was quite nice not having to listen to the same Kate Bush song here.

She needed something different and this was it.

Looking down at the table she grabbed hold of one of the confetti pieces as she began to fidget with it. She was hoping by now she would have been pulled out of the trance. What was taking Lucas so long?

She glanced down at her watch as she saw the time tick by. "Come on, Lucas."

Had something gone wrong with the plan?

What if all her friends got killed and she was the only left?

No, no, happy thoughts, Max, she told herself.

POP!

Max jumped up to the sound of a balloon popping behind her. She backed away from it as she then saw blood splattered all over the table.

POP!

Another balloon filled with blood splattered over the next table.

POP!

POP!

POP!

POP!

All the balloons began to explode, one after the other. Max gulped loudly as she moved away from all them. What the hell was going on?

The sound of the record began to distort as another song began to play.

Dream a little dream of me.

"What the hell?"

This was Victor Creel's song, but why was it playing here?

This was her happy place.

Her eyes drifted up to the Snow Ball banner as it began to turn orange and crumple into itself. She furrowed her brows as she walked around seeing the rest of the decorations begin to corrupt.

The flowers on the round tables began to wither. The table cloths turned black. The room ambience began to get darken as the color in the room turned blue. Dusk particles filled the space around her. Even the glittery decorative letters, that spelt out Snow Ball, were crunching into each other becoming dark.

Max swallowed deeply as her eyes caught the flash of the red sky through the gym's windows. Her breaths became shaky and short. Chills ran down her spine.

Vecna was coming.