Chapter Text
max's eyes fly open and she realizes all too late that yet again, she's falling.
crashing hard against the wood floor, max feels her head pounding as she struggles to believe that she's survived vecna a second time, all thanks to eleven and her mighty powers. her palms slap against the ground and she rolls from her side onto her back, where she starts to sit up only for her vision to swarm and to feel warm hands pushing at her shoulders. "lay down," she hears lucas telling her. now, max isn't one to follow authority. she never has, never will. but when it comes to lucas, she tends to humor him and listen. due to lucas' intentional whispering, she doesn't hear him express how thankful he is that she survived. that she's alive. that she's here.
after letting herself breath and rest for a couple minutes, max becomes uncomfortable with the hard, wooden floor and opens her eyes. thankfully her vision is no longer blurry, but she still can't see much due to the darkness. to escape from it, her mind shows her flashes of what she just went through - fighting vecna and being attacked by him, having her worst memories and thoughts in front of her, and finally eleven acting as her angel, her saving grace. "lucas?" she asks, although it comes out timid and her voice cracks on the five-letter word.
"i'm here," lucas assures her almost immediately and she feels his hand wrapping around her own, interlacing their fingers. he squeezes. she squeezes back. "erica's talking to the others right now. i'm not sure we should move you just yet."
although she's less than happy about being treated like she's fragile, she understands the importance of it. she probably is fragile right now. "did they kill him?" is her next question.
"we'll see, i guess," lucas answers. they sit in silence for a little more, with lucas only moving to grab the light and resting it next to max's face. she's grateful for that, for now their gazes can meet. not having to squint is a plus, too.
"they're on their way," erica announces shortly after. while max cannot see her from where she's laying, she hears the younger girl's footsteps enter the room. "steve said they're not sure if they killed vecna - whatever that means. but, he said they were all alive and pretty much fine."
max smiles at that, relieved. she had been so worried about her friends voluntarily going into the upside down, even if it was necessary. then, she remembers that she's the only one who knows about her interaction with eleven because duh - vecna surely didn't have time to mention it to nancy, steve, and robin while they were maiming him.
"lucas," she says and this time his name comes out more stronger. she gives his hand a small squeeze. "eleven was with me. she helped me-well, she actually saved me."
even though max can hardly see lucas' smile, to her it's shining brighter than the light next to her ever could. "hopefully that means they're okay and that they'll get back here," lucas says and max agrees.
until steve and the others arrive, the only sound is erica humming to herself. they know they're here when they hear a racket below them and erica rushes down to tell them where they are. soon, max hears too many footsteps to count and dustin and eddie chatting.
"they're here, wanna sit up?" lucas asks and max is eager to nod. he wraps his arm around her shoulders and she reaches up to put her hand on his shoulder. together, lucas pulls a bit and max sits up until she's resting, half-slumped against his side. now, she makes out the outline of them all. it takes her a couple seconds to adjust.
"hey there, mayfield," steve greets her, kneeling down so they're eye-level. he's smiling, albeit tiredly. "quite the hero you are, eh?"
"hey yourself," max replies. "erica said you didn't know if vecna was dead?"
steve tilts his head to the side. "it's complicated, but nothing we need to worry about right now," he admits, but isn't even sure that that's entirely true. however, that's the least of steve's worries and priorities. max is all that matters. "do you think you'll be able to walk?"
max gives him a look telling him she knows what he's really asking: if he can carry her. she was hardly able to sit up, odds were that standing (much less walking) wasn't gonna happen. "do they all have to witness it?" she mutters, her voice dropping so only steve and lucas can hear.
without missing a beat, steve turns to the group. "you guys can go get the trailer ready - and only nancy is driving!" he says.
"not even me?" max remarks, remembering the one time she drove steve's car with a fond smile.
"you can drive when i teach you," steve decides and they share a smile.
as the group files out, erica accompanying them, max faintly hears eddie claim that he has a license and robin ask if it's valid or not.
"you ready?" steve asks, with lucas moving out of the way to give them space.
when max's nod gives the green light, steve wraps one arm around her shoulders and the other under her knees. he hoists her up and she instinctivly clings to him. lucas leads the way downstairs.
once steve has put max in the trailer and lucas resumes his place sitting beside her, they're off. they have to make a pitstop to ditch the trailer where they split into two groups, steve and nancy's car, and they decide to breifly meet up with their parents before uniting at steve's house, with his parents out of town. everyone makes small talk through the entirety of it (even though they're all secretly a little worried about max), but max herself allows her mind to wander back to her experience with vecna. she carefully weaves through the memories, knowing how painful and fragile they are, and allows herself to think more on the entirety of it all. going from admitting things she once swore she never would, to those visions, eleven showing up, and almost losing to vecna again. max closes her eyes at some point to reel in her emotions, already beginning to feel like she might cry. she's cried plenty of times so she knows she can and that everyone would understand, but she's almost too tired to cry. she's sure the memories will feel more real, will hit her more, tomorrow or later on. she's probably still in shock, but everything feels numb right now and max wants to take advantage of it. she can't afford to think too much about what it all means so soon after it happened. she can't resist it right now.
acknowledging that and acknowledging her feelings about it, ranging from her relationship with billy to five minutes ago, brushes some of the weight off her shoulders. knowing it's there but she doesn't have to confront it immediately makes her feet feel lighter, and she almost imagines that she's walking on clouds. her thoughts start to slow and her mind starts to calm - soon, before she even knows it - her eyelids are growing heavier and she drifts off to a much-needed sleep.
at least for right now, max starts to dream again.