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Max was being held by the throat up to a vine laden column, Vecna taunting at all of her pleas.
"You're not...really...here!" Max gasped for air as the vines slithered around her neck slowly, tightening on the redhead's windpipe. "Oh, but I am." He said in a sinister monotone. But then she heard something. Kate Bush.
Vecna looked to the sound, seeing a hole in his own universe, one that led to people shouting and scrambling around.
"They can't help you, Max. There's a reason you hide from them." Max continued gasping for air, but there wasn't anything that came through. Only the toxic atmosphere around her. "You belong here, with me." Things became more and more blurry by the second, every ounce of energy draining from her dwindling form.
Vecna's hand raised to Max's panicked face, putting her into a trance.
She thought this was it. No more life. Just pain. And no one to wake her up from this nightmare.
*Max's POV*
I felt like I was falling. Falling down an endless tunnel that lasted an eternity. I screamed and screamed, but nothing happened. I was still just a girl falling down a black hole. But then I woke up.
My head was resting on a cold tile floor, my hair loose from their previous braids. I quickly sat myself up, looking for any idea as to where I could be. My mind scrambled to a hundred different possibilities, but then realized that something was familiar.
The blue stripes on the white brick walls. The dim lights. The double wooden doors with small glass windows. I was in Hawkins Middle School.
But something interrupted my thoughts. Voices. I quickly rushed over to the doors and looked through the dirty windows. And I couldn't believe my eyes. It was me. And...Mike?
I slowly opened the doors as quietly as I could, being sure not to make a single sound. But of course, the doors were old, so they squeaked.
I rushed through them and ducked under the bleachers. I was sure they would come and find me out, but to my surprise, it was like they didn't hear it, or like it never even happened. I didn't affect this universe.
So, I went over to the younger version of me and my enemy, who were clearly arguing.
"Why do you hate me?!" Younger me asked, little Mike still walking forward. "I don't hate you. How can I hate you, I don't even know you." He quipped back. "Yeah, but you don't want me in your party." "Correct." "Why not!?" Mike quickly turned on his heels to face me. "Because you're annoying! Also we don't need another party member! I'm our paladin, Will's our cleric, Dustin's our bard, Lucas is our ranger, and El is our mage!" He let out in a single breath. And if I wasn't the one who had to deal with this, I would almost say it's funny.
"El? Who's El?" Max finally asked with a quieter tone. "Someone. No one." Mike stuttered out. "Someone or no one?" Little me asked quickly. "She was in our party a long time ago. She moved away. Okay?" Mike then began walking forward again, little me close on his heels with my skateboard.
"She was a mage? What could she do, like magic tricks or something?" She continued asking. "Well, I could be your zoomer." She said, stopping in front of him. "That's not even a real thing." "It could be." Little me mounted my skateboard once again and began skating circles around the boy. "Wow. Mind blowing." Mike said sarcastically. "Come on, you know you're impressed." A weak smile started giving way to Mike's dull face, amused by the performance in front of him.
I walked over to the pair, trying to get a closer look. But as I did, younger Max was thrown from her skateboard and onto the hardwood floor. I ran over as quickly as possible, but much to my surprise, Mike was doing the same.
"Geez! Are you okay?" He quickly asked, despite the argument they had prior. "Yeah, I'm fine." Mike held out a hand for her to grab, and helped the still off-guard girl up. His hand lingered longer than needed, but the young me didn't seem to notice. But I did. His face was filled with a blush, and his eyes were glued to Max's eyes. But yet again, my thoughts were interrupted. Another black hole forming beneath me. It swallowed me up into its darkness, just as before. But for whatever reason, I didn't scream this time. There was a sort of reassurance, one that seemed impossible for the situation, but seemed possible to me.
I continued falling for a few seconds, until I was awoken by the ground shaking, and a sound of destruction. Despite my foggy brain and hazy eyes, I rushed to the scene and found yet another familiar memory.
There was that voice. The one I hated for so long. But now long for with a guilty conscience. Billy.
"You think this... is funny?" Billy said through the steam filled glass. "You kids think this is some kind of sick prank huh? You little shits think this is funny!?" Billy yelled, spitting on the glass.
I could only watch. It was the same day he was killed. The day that I had never felt so guilty in my entire life. And for what? Some abusive brother that didn't give a shit to how anything he did made me feel? No. The brother that died trying to save my life while I did nothing... to save his. It haunted me and still continues to haunt me every single day of my life.
"Open the door. I said OPEN THE DOOR!!!" Billy yelled at all of my younger friends, banging on the glass. "OPEN THE DOOR!!! OPEN THE DOOR!!!" He kept yelling, and I wanted to let him out, but I couldn't. His fists continuously hammered on the door, and I was sure it would break. The whole ground rumbled at every hit.
He stopped, breathing heavily as he backed away from his escape, crouching to the floor. The year younger me immediately rushed to the window, attempting to see if something was wrong. There was so much terror in those eyes, terror that I couldn't have recognized until now.
Will ran up to the thermometer announcing that it was 220 F. But then to everyone's amazement, there was sobbing. "It's not my fault, Max, it's not my fault. Please." He pleaded, hands clasped together as sweat covered his whole body.
"It's not your fault Billy." Younger me whispered through the glass. "I've done things Max, really bad things. I didn't mean to." He whimpered, voice shaky as his eyes were begging for any kind of relief.
"He made me do it." He said quietly, looking to Max for help. "Who made you do it?" She asked. "It's like a shadow. Like a giant shadow. Please Max." He described as Max tried to understand what he was trying to say.
"What did he make you do?" Max said in a much harsher tone. "It's not my fault! Max, Please!" He begged while clinging to the bench next to him. It was like the guilt was forming right in front of my eyes as I watched my step-brother whimpering in the corner of the sauna.
"I tried to stop it, okay, I did!" The younger version of me now had tears falling from her eyes as Billy continued pleading. "It's gonna be okay." Max said -with dare she say- hope.
I turned to the rest of the group, and Will had one of his hands on the back of his neck, and a face filled with fear. Oh no.
Mike somehow noticed, and he too had fear stricken onto his face. "Max? Get away from the door." He said quietly as if unsure, but when the younger me didn't move, Mike yelled.
"MAX GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" The door leading to the sauna suddenly burst open, throwing Max into a wall, knocking her unconscious. A cloud of steam wafted from the room and into my face, while Billy ran at Eleven. She used her powers throwing him into the window, shattering glass everywhere.
As they were fighting, the younger version of Mike rushed over to Max, shaking her shoulders. "Max, wake up. You gotta wake up!" He yelled as blood was streaming down the back of her head. He carefully picked Max up, and now I could see it. Tears were running down Mike's face as he tried to carry little me out to the parking lot. I quickly followed.
Once Mike set her down, I stooped down next to the two. "Come on Max, you can do it. Just wake up. Be okay." Mike was full on crying now as he cradled younger Max's head in his hands.
"Max, I'm so sorry for what I've put you through. Just wake up!" He yelled, throwing his head back, looking at the sky. "Please Max." He whispered, then leaning down, planted a kiss on her cheek.
Mike cared about me. Mike fucking Wheeler cared about me. All this time I thought he hated me. But he didn't. "Max, please. I'm sorry if I don't show it, but I... I l-love you. Just please, if not for me, do it for El, just wake up." Mike pleaded, and to say the least, I was shocked.
It was like I was seeing for the very first time. Mike liked me. No, no, no, no. Mike loved me.
This whole time I thought it was always El. El this, and El that. But it wasn't El this time. It was me. The girl he fights with at every chance he gets. The girl who annoys him to no end. The girl who constantly acts like a bitch. The girl he ignores. The girl that ruins everything around her. He loved that girl.
I suddenly felt short of breath as I realized that the past was slowly crumbling into dust, which then transformed into a red abyss. But Mike's words still played in my head. Come on Max, you can do it. Just wake up. Be okay. I suddenly took a gasp of air as my eyes shot open, and as quickly as I could, I tore off one of the veins from Vecna's neck. He recoiled in pain, and that was my chance. To get out of this hellhole, and come back to life.
I tore off the vines from around my body, and just ran. Boulders fell in my path, but I just kept running. Running until I felt safe.
I had to. For Lucas, for El, and for dare I say it; Mike. The only people left on earth who still love me. The only people I care about, and the only people I trust.
The light was getting closer and closer, and more things shook the ground in my path. But soon, I was free.
As my eyes opened, I felt nothing beneath me, and gravity placed its mark. "Max!" Lucas screamed as he caught me in his arms, slowly lifting me down. He held on to me tight as my breathing was heavy.
"Max, we thought we'd lost you." Lucas said with a lump in his throat. He cradled me in his arms until I calmed down slightly. "I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm awake." I repeated as I was still out of breath.
When I looked at everyone crowding around me, there was someone missing. Mike.
"Mike? Where's Mike? Lucas, where's Mike?" I asked quickly but desperately. Lucas gave me a confused look, but the panic on my own face must have been more important to him than questioning it.
"He's in the car." Was all Lucas said, pointing toward the dirt road where a station wagon was parked. "Thanks."
I jogged over to the car, and there in the backseat was Mike. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was clenching the back of the headrest so his knuckles were white.
I carefully knocked on the window, and Mike snapped his neck to my direction, then turned his head back to stare at his feet. He didn't bother opening the door, so I did.
"Mike?" Nothing. "Mike please." A lump in my throat had formed, and now I was struggling to fight back tears. "Just talk to me." I pleaded, but still no answer. Instead he just moved farther away from me.
"Mike, I'm so sorry for what I've put you through, just please talk to me." I whispered, letting the words Mike said to me be said to him. He finally looked up at me with curiosity in his eyes. "How do you know that?" He said, his voice getting caught in tears. "What?" I asked innocently, not even realizing that I had been saying precisely what Mike had said to me.
"Max. How do you know that?" Mike said, a bit more seriously. I let out a sigh, not really knowing how to tell him everything.
"Mike, you saved me. Twice actually." I started, a smile creeping up on my face just from thinking about it. "When I was... you know... cursed, I somehow got taken into...memories. And the first was when we were in the gym, and we were -well- arguing like usual, but then I fell off my skateboard. And you helped me. Even though we hated each other, you still helped me. And then I was taken back to when we were trying to get that thing, out of B-billy. You knew something was happening, and tried to warn me. I didn't listen and got thrown into the wall, knocking me unconscious. But while everyone was trying to stop Billy, you stayed behind, and took me outside to where it was safe. And I think you know the rest. Mike, you may not even care. But thank you. What you said that day, I'm alive now because of it." I waited for Mike to speak but nothing came out. So, I scooched over to the door and was about to leave, when Mike grabbed my wrist.
"Wait. I...it's just...I'm confused right now. And you definitely were not supposed to hear all that." Mike said with a blush forming on his face. "Maybe I was supposed to. If I didn't, I could just as well be dead right now." I said, searching for his brown eyes that were covered with his raven hair.
"Max, I've never hated you, just to be clear. I've always cared about you. I'm just...conflicted. There's El, and then there's... you." It was my turn to blush as he looked into my blue eyes. "You know what? I'm just gonna say it. I love you." And with that, Mike pulled my body into his own, and kissed my lips desperately. Our bodies were pressed up against each other, and I had never felt so safe. It was like I'd been penned up in a cage and now I'm just letting it all out.
I swung my arms around his neck while Mike held tightly to my waist to deepen the kiss. We didn't care about what was happening outside the car, only inside.
We finally parted for a breath, and in Mike's eyes was pure adoration. "Don't ever almost die again. Ya hear me?" He said with a smile, and I nodded my head eagerly, just wanting to kiss him some more.