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The sky over Hawkins was thick with unmoving clouds, a dull grey stretching endlessly overhead, muting everything beneath it. The cemetery felt quieter than it should have, the kind of silence that didn’t comfort but pressed in, heavy and suffocating. Damp grass bent under the weight of recent rain, brushing against worn headstones that leaned slightly with time, their edges softened by weather and grief.
Y/N sat in front of one of them, her body still in a way that didn’t feel natural. She hadn’t meant to sit it had just happened, like something in her had given out without asking permission. Her hands rested loosely in her lap, fingers tucked into the sleeves of her jacket, unmoving. Her gaze stayed fixed on the name carved into the stone, tracing it over and over until the letters blurred together.
The tightness in her chest hadn’t eased since she got there. If anything, it had settled deeper, heavier. The worst part was the absence of tears. She thought she might feel better if she cried, if something finally broke, but instead there was just this hollow, aching stillness. She prayed for his downfall when he was alive. Now she had gotten her wish, it was consuming her alive.
She remembers that day so clearly. “Damn you to hell! You left when Will went missing you didn’t give a damn you piece of shit! I hate you! I hope you die!” she shouted to her father. She wouldn’t even call him that. She slammed the car door flipping him off and just seconds later the car had spinned out of control hitting a tree hard, flying through the windshield of the car killing him instantly.
Robin sat beside her, quieter than usual, though the quiet didn’t sit comfortably on her. She shifted every so often, brushing her hands against her jeans, glancing sideways as if she was searching for something to say and coming up short every time. Still, she stayed.
“This sucks,” she said finally, her voice softer than usual but no less certain.
Y/N let out a faint breath, barely there, but enough to answer. “Yeah.”
Robin nodded, staring ahead for a moment before continuing, unable to leave the silence alone for too long. “I had a whole speech planned,” she admitted, almost to herself. “Something deep. Thoughtful. Possibly even helpful, which honestly…would’ve been new for me.”
She squinted slightly, like she might be able to find it if she tried hard enough. “Pretty sure it was going to stop wars.”
That earned the smallest reaction. The corner of Y/N’s mouth twitched, subtle enough that it might have gone unnoticed by anyone else.
Robin caught it instantly. “Oh, that was almost a smile. I saw that.”
A quiet laugh slipped out of Y/N before she could stop it, soft and fleeting but real enough to feel out of place in a setting like this.
“You’re lucky I love you,” she murmured with a smile.
Robin pressed a hand to her chest. “Of course we love each, and as duty as your best friend I am chasing away any guy who uses Farrah Fawcett Spray” She sat closer to her.
For a moment, the weight lifted just enough to breathe. Not gone, never gone, but lighter. It didn’t last. The sound of footsteps broke through the quiet, gravel shifting sharply behind them. Robin’s head turned immediately, her expression dropping the second she saw who it was.
“No. Nu uh. What do you two dinguses think you’re doing here?”
Y/N didn’t need to look to know, but she did anyway. Steve stood a few feet away, Dustin just behind him, both of them hesitant in a way that made it obvious they already knew they shouldn’t be there.
“Of course,” Y/N muttered, turning back toward the headstone.
Robin was already on her feet, stepping in front of them without hesitation. “Nope. Absolutely not. This is not happening right now.”
Dustin blinked, caught off guard “What did I do i’m just here-“ Robin cut him off “You are an accessory with dingus over here so therefore you are one too”
Steve didn’t react. His attention stayed fixed on Y/N. “I just want to talk.”
“You said enough.” She didn’t turn this time. Her voice didn’t need to rise to land. Steve hesitated, something flickering across his face before he tried again. “I didn’t mean”
“You did.” There wasn’t anything to argue with after that.
Robin stepped forward again, firmer now, gesturing back the way they came. “Go. Take a walk. Reflect. Grow. Maybe journal.”
Dustin gave Steve a small, uncertain look before tugging lightly at his sleeve. After a second, Steve stepped back. He didn’t push it. He didn’t argue. He just looked at her for a moment longer, like he was trying to hold onto something he didn’t have anymore, before turning and walking away.
Robin watched them go, jaw tight, then exhaled and dropped back down beside Y/N. “They’re gone. Temporally, do you want me to train my dog to attack on sight?” She joked. The quiet returned, but something about it had shifted. It didn’t settle the same way.
Robin glanced sideways. Y/N hadn’t moved. Not even slightly. Her hands remained in her lap, her posture unchanged, her gaze fixed forward in a way that felt wrong now, too still, too distant.
Robin leaned closer, nudging her shoulder lightly. “Hey.” Nothing. She tried again, firmer this time. Still nothing. A cold feeling settled in her chest as she reached for Y/N’s arm. Her skin felt colder than it should have.
“Okay… not funny.” She shook her gently, then harder when there was still no response. “Hey. Come on.”
Nothing. No blink. No reaction. No shift in her expression. Panic came fast, sharp and rising.
“Y/N? ”
She grabbed both of her shoulders, shaking her more urgently now, her voice starting to break despite herself. “Hey! look at me. Come on.”
Nothing. The emptiness in her eyes hit harder than anything else.
“I don’t like this,” Robin muttered, more to herself now. “I really don’t like this! Y/N!”
Down the path, Dustin slowed, something pulling at his attention before he fully understood why. When he turned and saw Robin shaking her, Y/N completely unresponsive, his stomach dropped immediately.
“Steve…” Steve followed his gaze and didn’t hesitate. He ran.
By the time they reached them, Robin’s voice had already broken. “She won’t answer! look at her eyes!”
Steve dropped in front of Y/N, his hands coming up immediately, cupping her face as if he could force her to focus on him. “Hey look at me” Nothing. A tear slid slowly down her cheek.
Dustin felt the dread settle in all at once. “Oh no…”
Robin turned on him instantly, panic spilling over. “What do you mean ‘oh no’? What is that supposed to mean?!”
“This is how it started,” Dustin said quickly, already shaking his head. “She’s not here..she’s…”
“What do you mean she’s not here?!”
Steve’s hands trembled slightly against her face, his voice dropping under the weight of it. “Hey… don’t do this…” Still nothing.
Dustin turned, already moving. “We need music.”
“What?!” Robin and Steve both examined still holding Y/N’s hands.
“Her song her favourite song now!” He ran, digging through tapes with shaking hands, barely thinking, just grabbing what he could.
Robin held onto Y/N’s hand, gripping it tightly, her thumb brushing over her knuckles as if she could anchor her there with Steve holding onto her other hand.
“Hey… I’m right here… babe okay? You’re okay…” Steve didn’t move. Didn’t let go. “Please…”
Dustin came running back, breathless, tape in hand. “What’s her favourite song?!”
Robin didn’t hesitate before looking at Steve. “Y/N’s favourite tape”
“Yeah, I know!” The words came out sharp, immediate, driven by panic more than anything else.
His hands shook as he shoved the tape into the player, fumbling once before it clicked into place. The music started faint at first, then clearer, cutting through the silence.
Steve grabbed the headphones, her, pressing them over her ears. “Y/N baby, listen to me.” His voice broke, “You’re not alone. I’m right here, babe please”
For a moment, nothing changed. Then her body lifted.
Slowly.
Unnaturally.
Robin stumbled back, breath catching, hands flying to her face. Steve reached for her immediately, gripping her arms as her feet left the ground, but she was lifted so high he lost her grip. Her head tilted slightly, her body slack, her eyes still distant.
And she was gone.
Darkness didn’t just surround her it pressed in, thick and suffocating, as if the air itself had weight. It clung to her skin, seeped into her lungs, made every breath feel sharp and wrong. The ground beneath her feet was uneven, cracked like something long abandoned, and each step sent small fragments shifting, brittle under her weight.
Y/N turned slowly, her chest rising too fast, her pulse loud in her ears. Nothing looked familiar. Nothing felt real. The silence stretched too far, broken only by a low, distant hum that didn’t seem to come from anywhere at all.
“Hello?” Her voice echoed back at her, warped and hollow, like it didn’t belong to her anymore.
A shape shifted in the distance. Not moving quickly. Not rushing. Waiting. Vecna stepped forward from the shadows, his form towering, unnatural, something that didn’t belong in any world she understood. The air around him seemed to warp, darkening further, pulling everything toward him like gravity had changed its mind.
“You feel it.”
The words didn’t travel through the air they settled directly into her mind, heavy and unavoidable.
Before she could react, the ground beneath her shifted, reality folding in on itself.
Smoke curling thick into the air. The car stood in front of her, but it wasn’t right. The colours were wrong, the edges warped, like she was looking at something through broken glass.
He stood there. Alive. Her breath caught so sharply it hurt. He turned, but his expression wasn’t relief. It wasn’t warmth. It was anger.
“You were supposed to stay back!”
The words hit like something physical.
“I didn’t” Her voice broke, thin and unsteady. “I tried”
“It’s your fault!”
The scene fractured, the moment repeating before she could escape it. His voice layered over itself, louder each time, harsher, sharper.
“You should’ve listened!”
“You should’ve stayed!”
“You let me die!”
“No” She shook her head, backing away, her hands trembling. “No, that’s not—”
The ground split beneath her feet, and before she could catch herself, something wrapped around her wrists tight, sudden, alive.
She was yanked backward, her body slamming into something cold and uneven. The impact knocked the breath from her lungs as vines coiled around her arms, her legs, pinning her in place. They tightened with every movement, reacting to her panic, to the way her chest heaved uselessly as she tried to breathe.
Her feet barely touched the ground. Her head spun. Vecna stepped closer, slow and deliberate, like he had all the time in the world. “They can’t save you, Y/N.”
Her vision blurred at the edges, her chest burning as the pressure tightened. The guilt. The weight of it as it almost pulled her under.
Then something cut through it. Faint yet soft, a sound she knew. Music.
At first, she thought she imagined it, something her mind was grasping for just to survive. But it grew stronger, clearer, threading through the darkness like something that didn’t belong there.
The world around her cracked. Behind Vecna, a tear split open in the air, light spilling through in a way that hurt to look at. It wasn’t like the rest of this place—it was warm, alive, real.
Steve.
Robin.
Dustin.
Blurred, distant, but there. Calling her.
Her name carried through the sound, breaking through the weight pressing against her.
“They can’t save you,” Vecna said again, closer now, his voice almost calm.
Her head shook weakly, her voice barely more than air. “You’re… not real…”
Vecna tilted his head slightly, almost curious. “Oh, but I am real, Y/N.”
Her breath hitched, her chest tightening again, but her eyes flicked back toward the opening, toward the light, toward them, but something shifted. Not outside. Inside.
Robin and her at Scoops Ahoy after failing miserably to be able to flirt with anyone with those stupid uniforms,, both of them laughing so hard she couldn’t stay upright.
Nancy slipping in the snow, grabbing her and dragging her down with her, both of them collapsing into laughter as the cold soaked through their clothes.
Steve, standing just a little too close, nervous in a way she’d never seen before, his hand brushing her cheek before their first kiss, soft and careful, like he was afraid she’d disappear. The dance, his hand steady in hers, pulling her closer, the rest of the world fading out around them. Later that night in his bedroom, the quiet, soft, safe the warmth of his arms around her, the kind of stillness that didn’t feel heavy, just right, the first time they showed their love to each other.
It was real. All of it.
Her breathing steadied not fully, not easily but enough. The pressure in her chest didn’t disappear, but it shifted, no longer suffocating her completely. Vecna faltered. It was small. Barely noticeable. But she felt it.
“You don’t get to take that from me.”
Her voice was still unsteady, but there was something else in it now. Something that hadn’t been there before. Resolve. The vines tightened again, reacting, pulling harder, but this time she didn’t freeze. She pushed against them. Her fingers curled, not in panic, but in resistance. She forced her arm forward slow, difficult, like moving through something thick and heavy and grabbed him.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then she pulled. It wasn’t strength, not really. It was something deeper, something rooted in everything he was trying to twist, everything he was trying to take. Something tore. Not flesh. Not something visible. Something beneath it. Vecna recoiled, his body twisting unnaturally as whatever she had grasped slipped free under her grip. For the first time, his control fractured. The vines loosened. That was enough.
She dropped, stumbling forward as her feet hit the ground properly, and she ran. The world cracked around her with every step, the darkness splintering, breaking apart like glass under pressure. The light grew stronger, pulling her toward it, their voices clearer now, sharper.
“Y/N!”
She pushed harder, faster, her chest burning, her breath uneven, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t. The opening widened, and as she reached it, she saw herself. Floating, still, her body suspended in the air, eyes distant, tears slipping down her face.
Steve beneath her, arms reaching, his expression panicked in a way she had never seen before. Robin beside him, shaking, crying, her hands pressed to her face. Dustin frozen just behind them, fear written all over him.
“Y/N!”
The sound pulled her forward, stronger than anything else.
She reached, and everything shattered.
Her eyes snapped open as her body dropped, the sudden shift knocking the air from her lungs. Strong arms caught her before the hit the ground hard, pulling her in tightly, holding her like letting go wasn’t an option.
She gasped, breath breaking apart, fingers gripping onto Steve’s shirt as reality slammed back into place. Crying with the fear she pulls him into her more.
“Oh God, I thought I lost you” His voice broke completely, the words rushed and uneven as he held onto her.
She shook her head quickly, still trying to catch her breath, still trying to ground herself in something real. “I’m right here… I’m right here…”
Robin staggered back slightly, her hands covering her face as tears spilled through her fingers, her shoulders shaking with it. She threw herself on Y/N hugging her tightly. Dustin sat there frozen, wide-eyed, the shock still catching up to him.
Kissing the top of her head, she could feel his tears fall on her. Steve didn’t loosen his grip. Not even for a second. This time she didn’t let go either.