𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 ━ max mayfield

14│RUNNING UP THAT HILL ( A DEAL WITH GOD )

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❛ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴄᴋᴇᴅ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʀᴜɴɴɪɴɢ ᴜᴘ ᴛʜᴀᴛ
ʜɪʟʟ ( ᴀ ᴅᴇᴀʟ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɢᴏᴅ ) ꒱


❝ AND I'D GET HIM TO
SWAP OUR PLACES ❞

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If Jessie Salvador was the master of one thing, it was bottling up her emotions. Nancy had been right when she'd spoken to Max about that (along the same lines, at least) hours earlier. It had been rather startling to rouse to three very worried-looking teenagers. She'd played it off like it hadn't meant anything to her when, in fact, it had made her feel distinctly uncomfortable.

This was only because she wasn't used to people caring about her. Until she'd met the party the year they'd found Eleven, it had just been her, her unresponsive father and— rarely— her mother. They weren't exactly ideal conversation partners or emotional support, so she became used to relying on herself. Even once she'd met Will and the rest of his friends, they only included her because she'd had useful information on the lab— not because they actually wanted to be her friend.

It was only when Eleven had become an integral part of their group that they'd finally started including her more, which had been immediately dashed once the super-powered girl disappeared. Then, it had just been Jessie by herself again, only worse because she knew now what having friends was like. That was when she'd resolved to never depend on anyone else again. . . until Max Mayfield walked into the classroom on that windy October day.

Now, Jessie was infiltrating alternate dimensions with the intent to kill for someone who she wasn't sure was her girlfriend or not. It was best to avoid addressing as many emotional situations as possible, especially when they were still in relative peril. So, the best thing to do was pretend like everything was just fine and carry on like nothing had happened.

She could hear the older teens start into motion after her and she was relieved that they didn't bring up her second blackout. Instead, they opened the door to the attic to reveal a shadowy room where Vecna's body was suspended by. . . something. Robin set her backpack down on the ground and handed out the torches.

Jessie took the matches out of her coat's pocket and struck them against the metal strip on the back of the package. The flame lit up in her fingers and cast a golden glow to her face. As Steve turned to her to light the cloth of his torch on fire, he caught the same shine flickering in her eyes. She gave him a smile that was all sharp, white teeth as she set the cloth ablaze.

The older boy handed her the Molotov cocktail as she put out the flame on her match. Jessie moved almost reverently despite the burning cloth. She raised her arm above her head and threw the bottle as hard as she could towards Vecna's suspended figure. It caught on his form and the body burst into flames, which lit up the dark space and chased the shadows away.

Steve, Robin and Nancy all shielded their eyes from the sudden onslaught of light but Jessie stared right into the fire as it consumed Vecna's body. Over the noise, she shouted: "that's for messing with my girlfriend, you bitch-ass motherfucker!"

Vecna fell to the ground with a rasping gasp of air but the flames hadn't killed him yet. He pushed himself to his feet as he stared them down. Nancy lifted her improvised gun higher. Robin prepared the second Molotov cocktail with her lighter. Her aim was just as good as Jessie's and it hit Vecna in the stomach, causing even more flames to rage around his form.

When he showed only the slightest signs of being affected, Nancy took purposeful steps forward and finally released the trigger on her gun. Her first shot hit his shoulder and blood— or what could pass for blood— sprayed from the wound. She kept up a relentless stream of bullets as she continued her forward path, each one weakening their enemy. The last shot had enough force that it knocked him entirely out of the attic and he fell through the third-story window.