Love Is A Battlefield (A Stranger Things/Steve Harrington Fanfiction)

Chapter Eighty-One: Angels, Demons, and Ella Fitzgerarld

"Thank you."

The guard unlocked the key to the Criminal ward, which was a cold, dark, and dingy place much different than the facilities upstairs.

"Do not startle him," The guard said, leading us to the end of the hallway, "Do not touch him. Do not pass him anything. Stand five feet away from the bars at all times. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." We all agreed as he took out his night stick and ran it along the bars of the last cell in the ward. 

"Victor!" He called in a very condescending tone. "Today's your lucky day! You got visitors."

The man in the cell was sitting at a desk against the wall, his back facing us. All we could really see of him was the white cardigan he had on, no doubt to protect him from the cold conditions of the basement. As soon as the words left the guards mouth he began clawing at the desk, leaving grooves in it with his fingernails. 

"Must be in one of his moods. Have fun." The guard walked off, leaving us alone, but I didn't look away from the man. The hair on my neck stood on end, and I suddenly got a very overwhelming feeling that this man had definitely had contact with Vecna in some way.

"Victor?" Nancy began. "My name's Nancy. Nancy Wheeler. And this is..."

"Robin Buckley." Robin said. I walked up to the bars, lightly placing my hands on them despite the guard's direct orders.

"I'm Riley Hopper." He stopped scratching then. 

"We've got some questions-" Nancy started.

"I don't talk to reporters. Hatch knows that."

"We're not reporters."

"Victor," I said gently, "We came here because we know what really happened to you and your family, and whoever or whatever the true culprit was...its back."

He slowly turned around to face us, revealing that his eyes were gouged out, covered in scars, and had pus leaking our from beneath his eyelids.

"What's happened?" He asked. 

"Two teenagers," I told him, "It started with nosebleeds, nightmares and headaches...then hallucinations-visions of horrifying things tied to traumas from their pasts and then...they floated up into the air. Their bones snapped and their eyes were removed from the inside. Its happened twice already, one of our friends is experiencing the symptoms right now."

He didn't respond to this, turning sideways in his chair and pressing his hands together.

"When he attacks, our friend described it as a trance," Nancy continued, "Like, a waking nightmare. That's why we think he's coming for her next. Does any of this, anything we've told you, sound like what happened to your family?

He let out a shaky breath.

"Victor...I know this is hard-"

"You don't KNOW anything!" He exclaimed. 

"But we do Victor," I assured him, "These people he's killed, I've seen them. I've watched them day, I've seen and experienced their visions, I know exactly how they feel, every single emotion. But there's still gaps missing in our knowledge of this monster, and that is why we are here, because as far as we know, you are the only person to have survived his attack."

"Survived?" He asked, laughing in disbelief as he stood up from his chair. "Is that what you call this? Did I survive? No, I assure you," He stepped up to the bars, prompting Nancy and Robin to step back, but I didn't move, "I am still very much in hell."