•protect her•

• Chapter twenty three •

Robin's POV

"Steve, pull the car over" I said, freaking everyone out.

"What's wrong, Rob?" He asked.

"Just pull the god damn car over!" I raised my voice.

"I just don't understand why I ha-" He started.

"PULL THE FUCKING CAR OVER" I yelled causing him to swerve off the road.

Once the car stopped, I got out and followed the sound of the clock.

"Robin? Where are you going?" Nancy ran to my side.

"I hear it" I said as the rest of the group joined us.

"The clock?" Max asked.

I didn't answer and I kept walking.

"Shouldn't we have a plan? Like... we killed him... how is this possible?" Eddie panicked.

The ticking was getting louder.

I kept walking as Steve and Eddie freaked out, soon after, I stopped.

"Did you find it?" Max asked.

"No... it stopped" I answered.

"That's good. Isn't it?" Nancy added.

"No... he's playing mind games... literally" I responded and marched back to the car.

We walked back to the car and the whole ride home was filled with everyone except me theorizing about what this could mean.

***
We walked into the house to see a worried Byers-Hopper + Argyle family.

"I felt it. He isn't dead" Will ran up to me and gave me a hug.

"It's gonna be okay, I promise" I whispered as I hugged him back.

The thing is, I didn't know if it was gonna be okay. Anything could happen and I couldn't control it.

"We have a few theories" Steve stepped forward as Dustin walked into the room with the rest of the group following him.

"Just in time" Dustin smiled "What did I miss?"

"Well, turns out Vecna has been in Robin's mind since she was a toddler and he was like hibernating in her head until Robin met El. We think that's why he came back, he recognized her" Eddie rambled, everyone's smiles dropped.

"Also, she heard the clock" Max added.

"And how do you know all this about Robin's childhood?" Erica asked.

"We went to jail" I said, I was faced with confused looks which made me laugh.

"I say we wait for him to show again, so we know that he's really back" Jonathan stated, cutting my laughing off.

"Then we can go into the upside down and kill him... for good this time" Steve noted.

"That is not happening" Joyce added "I'm not letting anything happen to you guys"

"Well what other choice do we have?" Lucas said.

"He's right, Joyce" Hopper frowned.

"It's not like you can leave town, he'll just follow... he's in your mind, until one of you is dead" Argyle surprised us by saying something actually worth listening to.

"Okay, but how will we get into the upside down?" Nancy asked "We need a gate, don't we?"

"I can do it. I'll open one" El said.

"That's too dangerous. I'm not gonna let you do that, El" I piped up "He feels safe in my mind, he won't kill me, it's the only place he feels comfortable. Just let it be, I can deal with it"

"We're not gonna let you be tortured for the rest of your life, Rob. Plus, what if he gets bored? He'll want to kill sometime and then people will die" Steve said.

"I've been tortured before" I remembered last year "You were there, Steve. It wasn't that bad. And if there's any chance at all that he'll be content in my head, then I'll take it"

————————————————————
I'm high rn. If this doesn't make sense then I apologize. I hope you enjoy :)