Chapter Text
Nancy pulled tight on the fabric. Mike tried to hold in the cry of pain, but Nancy heard the small whimpers break through his lips.
“Are you okay? How does it feel?” Nancy asked him.
His voice wavered when he answered, “Hurts like Hell Nance, but I’ll live.”
“You lucky the demo didn’t hit any deeper,” Nancy commented. She stared at her bloody covered hands, the visions of her mother bleeding out on the floor flashing through her mind. She absent mindedly thought of how much soap she used to wash all of the blood on her hands off.
“Nancy!” Mike shouted, startling her out of her thoughts. He just stared up at him with wide eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Um,” Nancy stuttered, “yes- yes. I’m good, sorry.”
Mike eyed her warily but didn’t push. Nancy bit the inside of her cheek nervously. She listened for any sort of sound in the hallway.
“I think it’s gone,” she stated, “we have to find Holly. Can you walk?”
Mike nodded. “I think so, just help me up.”
Nancy stood up first, checked out the door for any sign of the monster and then took Mike’s hand and helped him up. He stumbled at first but soon found his footing. Nancy looked at him, and he nodded to let her know he was okay. She took his arm and wrapped it around her shoulder, then grabbed her flamethrower and threw it over her shoulder, making sure it didn’t land on Mike’s hand.. He leaned heavily against her at first, especially walking down the stairs, but eventually the pain- and tourniquet- numbed his leg enough that he couldn’t feel the pain and walked on his own, though with a big limp.
Henry’s house seemed bigger than it ever had. Nancy felt like they were walking through the rooms and hallways for hours, when in fact, it had only been a few minutes. Nancy had the flamethrower out in front of her, ready to set whatever monster from Hell coming at them on fire. They made their way to the back of the house and stopped for a quick break. Mike pulled out the walkie talkie and tried to contact the others again. Dustin, Steve, and Jonathan had gone off to rescue the other kids Vecna took to another part of the Upside Down, and Will and Joyce were- at least hopefully- with Hopper and El.
The walkie just sent static through, like always, and Mike shoved it back in his pocket. “I hope they're okay…” he murmured.
Nancy glanced at him sympathetically. “I’m sure they are fine.”
Mike hummed in response, but continued to stare at his feet. “How do we know Holly is even here? I mean, why wouldn’t Vecna take her with the other kids?”
Nancy sighed and held her hands over her face. She then ran them through her hair while saying, “I don’t know. I just, I know she’s here…”
Mike frowned. “Let’s keep going.” He put a comforting hand on Nancy’s shoulder. “We’ll find her.”
Nancy pushed herself off the wall and they walked through the door into a room they hadn’t even visited in the real world. Nancy swung the flame thrower around, but nothing was there. In fact, it was a strangely long and dark hallway. It was way too long to actually be a part of the house. It was like an illusion.
“Huh,” Mike grunted.
Nancy’s heart rate sped up as they walked through the eerie hallway. There were no doors, not even a slight change in the walls. Nancy reached out for Mike’s hand, found it, and breathed a sigh of relief. Part of her mind was starting to think she’d become trapped in another one of Vecna’s mind traps.
“HELP!”
The Wheeler sibling’s heads snapped to look at each other.
“HELP!” The voice screamed out again.
“Holly!” They shouted in unison.
Nancy started running down the hallway, Mike was several feet behind, but running as fast as he could. Nancy sped up, not seeing any door in sight until suddenly there was a sharp turn that would’ve been impossible to spot if she wasn’t right next to it. She’d almost ran straight into the wall, but planted her feet in time to stop herself from smashing her nose.
Nancy gaped at the beige door that was in between her and her little sister. Mike soon stopped right next to her panting. The sound of his rapid breath made her realize how tired she was as well from the endless run.
“Whoa,” Mike breathed.
“HELP!”
The voice snapped them both back into alert mode. “Holly!” Nancy screamed.
“Nancy?” Holly cried.
“Holly!” Mike and Nancy shouted. Mike banged on the door while Nancy tried to work the handle to open.
“Hang on tight Holly!” Mike reassured her, “we will get you out!”
Mike stood back to give Nancy some room. She pulled out a booby pin from her hair and slipped it into the lock. A few moments later there was a click and the door slowly swung open. Nancy barely stood up when suddenly a small human had wrapped her arms around her.
Nancy engaged in the hug just as tightly, and felt Mike join in a moment later. Nancy pulled back and knelt down to meet Holly eye-to-eye. Her little sister was a little scratched up, dirty, and bruised- but otherwise okay.
“Are you okay? We were so worried, what happened?” Nancy rambled. She sounded like Robin.
“I’m fine,” Holly answered in a shaky voice. “I was taken to Mr. Whatsit’s house, and then I met this girl- Max-”
“Wait, you met Max?” Nancy questioned.
“Nance, answers later,” Mike interrupted, “I can hear something. We need to go.”
Nancy nodded hastily and grabbed her flamethrower. Mike took Holly’s hand and they followed behind Nancy. Nancy paused when a familiar growl sounded behind them. She turned around slowly and looked past Mike’s shoulder and spotted a shadow on the blue slimy wall. A Demogorgon. Nancy cursed and ran behind them.
“GO!” Nancy shouted.
Mike and Holly started running at the same time a loud screech erupted from the Demogorgon’s flower shaped mouth and it turned the sharp corner and started running directly at them. Nancy held up the flamethrower and pointed it at the creature. She stared it down with hatred and as soon as it got in range she unleashed the fire. It hit the Demogorgon square on and it screeched and writhed on the ground. Nancy smirked in satisfaction, but that elated feeling soon hit rock bottom when she heard several more growls and screeches from the same direction.
Nancy knew she couldn’t take them all. She turned and ran, seeing Mike and Holly way up ahead of her. Since Mike couldn’t run very fast, she caught up quickly. “RUN!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Mike whipped his head to look at her, seemed to see what she was yelling about, and kicked himself into the next mode. Him and Holly quickly picked up the pace with Nancy close behind them. She could hear the clambering of heavy foot falls behind her. The screeches were getting closer. She turned on her toes and started running backwards as fast as she could.
She triggered the flamethrower and set the closest demogorgons on fire, but they just kept coming. She turned again and finally spotted the door. She shoved Mike through and shut it behind her. Her back was pressed up against the door. Nancy was almost thrown to the floor when a Demogorgon collided with it on the other side. The door kept shaking and Nancy knew it would break any second.
“Across the hall- GO!” Nancy ordered.
Mike and Holly were one step ahead of her and shut the door the second she made it in. They could hear the snapping of wood and growls through the door.
“How are we going to get out of here?” Mike asked.
Nancy didn't answer him. Her mind was swirling around every sucky thing that’s happened to them. Will getting taken, Barb killed, Bob killed, Chrissy, Patrick, Fred, Max, all of the kids Vecna took… then her parents, and Holly. She couldn’t let anymore kids get hurt, especially not the two that mattered most to her.
“We’re not.”
Mike stared at her. “What?”
Nancy met his gaze. “You’re getting out of here.”
“Nancy, wait- please explain,” Mike asked frantically, “what are you saying?”
“I’m going to hold off the Demogorgons as long as I can, while you and-” Nancy’s voice broke, “-while you and Holly get away.”
“What?! No. No!” Mike stated sternly, “we stick together. Wheelers stick together.”
“Not this time Mike,” Nancy whispered, “I can’t lose anyone else.”
“No, Nance-” Mike pleaded, “we can figure this out!”
“It’s non-negotiable Mike,” Nancy said, “...please.”
Mike looked down, and pulled Holly in closer. Nancy felt tears prick at her eyes and wiped them away. She grabbed the back of Mike’s neck and pulled his head to hers. They touched their foreheads for several seconds before pulling away.
“On my order, you go,” Nancy instructed, “and tell Jonathan I love him.”
Mike barely nodded his acknowledgement before Nancy had the door open and started to spread fire. The demogorgons were soon on her tail as she ran down the hallway under the stairs. “GO!” She screamed and watched out of the side of her eye as Mike and Holly made for the door.
Nancy ran in circles and set any Demogorgon close to her on fire. The house started to catch and it became hard to breathe. With the smoke Nancy was able to slip through them and make it to the front of the house. She got a quick look outside the glass-stained window and saw Mike and Holly several feet away. She breathed a sigh of relief. She was turning around when suddenly white hot pain filled her body and mind.
She fell to the ground in a crumpled mess and her hand found the bloody mess on her stomach. She whimpered as her fingers felt the ravaged mess and looked up to see a half burnt Demogorgon with a bright orange flame behind it looking down at her. A tear slid down her cheek as the Demo reared his claw.
She stifled a cry as she shifted herself so that her right hand could trace along her finger and feel the cold metal. I love you Jonathan.
—
Mike turned around when they reached the forest line. The bright orange fire lit up the gloomy sky of the Upside Down. It also shed a light on a streak of bright red on the glass stained window. Mike was overwhelmed with emotions. Anger, sadness, hatred. Nancy died for them, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let it be in vain.
Holly’s head was buried in Mike's shirt and he silently led her through the forest in the direction of the rendezvous. When they got to the bench, they collapsed on top of it. Holly clung on to Mike and cried into his shoulder, all the while Mike let his head fall into his hands. He didn’t cry, his shoulder’s didn’t even shake- but his heart felt like it wanted to burst.
Eventually they heard the sounds of a car. Mike’s head snapped up and his heart dropped. Jonathan. What was he gonna tell him?
“Mike!” Dustin called out, climbing out of the car.
Dustin wrapped him in a hug. Mike returned it numbly.
“Where’s Nancy?”
Mike looked up. Jonathan was standing by the car, looking like he already knew the answer.
“I-I’m sorry…” Mike trailed off. It was too painful.
“No…” Jonathan gasped. “No, No no no no no!”
He clutched his head and fell to the ground. Steve was by his side in a moment, almost looking as heartbroken as him. Steve fell to the ground and pulled Jonathan in close. Both of their shoulders shook uncontrollably. Mike’s head fell and he clutched his hair. This can’t be happening. She can’t be gone.
“Not Nance…” Steve murmured through the tears.
…
1 YEAR LATER
Jonathan spun the box through his fingers again. He glided to the stone that he’d visited every week. It read: Nancy Wheeler. Sister, Daughter, Fiance. …..Hero. Gone but not forgotten.
He kneeled down by the granite stone and placed his hand on the top. “Hey Nance,” Jonathan whispered.
He opened the black box and stared at the wedding ring he’d picked out for her. He snapped it shut and placed it by the stone. Then he turned on the cassette of jazz Murray had given him the year before, and sat down. The echo of the music rang through his skull, and fond memories of his fiance played on repeat.