𝘿𝙍𝙄𝙁𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 - Max Mayfield

43. Vecna's Curse

"Did you see anything that night?" Robin asked.

"Like,dark particles maybe?" Max asked.

Eddie shook his head. "There was nothing you could see or touch.."

"Something as simple as the lights flickering" Aiden said. "That's always a sign of the Upside Down"

"The lights did flicker a lot that night" Eddie said.

"And they did at her place too at about the same time" Aiden jerked his head to Max as he pieced it together for the gang who of course still didn't have if figured out. "That explains it... At least now we know the Upside Down is still messing with this world"

"But what exactly is it this time?" Dustin asked.

"Y'know..." Eddie said softly. "I tried to wake her up,man.. I really tried but she seemed to be in like a trance"

"Or a spell" Dustin said.

"A curse" Aiden and Eddie said at once. "Vecna's curse"

"Who's Vecna?" Steve asked.

"An evil spell caster" Dustin said.

"Basically a dark wizard" Aiden clarified.

While engrossed in their conversation,the gang failed to notice a particularly small limbless reptile peacefully curled up in a corner not far away...

__________

The next day, Steve, Robin and Dustin were shopping for food for Eddie and practically forced Aiden to stay behind in the car with Max, much to his irritation.

The awkward silence in the car was only slightly lessened by the sound of Aiden munching on an apple he'd brought with him as some kind of breakfast,as well as the faint tune of Gangsta's Paradise coming from Aiden's Walkman which Max could hear from the backseat.

"What do you think of all this?" Max asked.

A few seconds passed and Aiden didn't say a word. His headphones weren't over his left ear as he sat in the passenger's seat on front of her.

"Y'know,you can't ignore me forever" Max said.

"I'm just trying not to rub my curse on you,since any interaction with me would probably kill you" Aiden said without even looking at her.

"You're still holding on to that..." Max realized. She knew the breakup affected him but she'd never thought...

"You think I'd forget?" Aiden's voice dropped. "Those words are burned into my head, Mayfield"

"Aiden,I was... I was partially drunk" Max defended, remorse already building up inside her.

"Mhmm" the ninja said. "On a school day. Even if you were,that just proves that you actually do feel that way about me"

"I... I'm sorry," Max looked down. "I  didn't mean all that, I was... I was just so consumed by-"

"Grief?" Aiden finished with a light chuckle. "Yeah,so was my dad... We both know how that ended up, don't we?"

"Aiden-"

"Look, thank you for the apology and I might accept it in due time," Aiden said. "But right now... I can't promise you anything at all. I'm still trying to fix myself"

"... I understand" Max said quietly.

"Thank you" He nodded.

"By the way... I saw what you did to Troy" Max said. "Aiden,what if Mike hadn't stopped you?"

"Then I go to jail" Aiden said simply. "Wouldn't be my first time killing a scumbag.. and if the tables turned and I got beat to death,so be it"

The chill nature of his voice as he spoke about manslaughter and death was what disturbed Max. She would've backed away if she weren't at the edge of the seat already. This boy was completely different from the one she'd known and once dated.

Who was this?

What had she done?

__________

Eventually,the rest of the group got done shopping and headed back to Rick's house, obviously startling Eddie in the process.

"Alright,man we got good news and bad news" Aiden sat with the metalhead as he handed him one of the bags.

"Bad news first, always" Eddie insisted.

"Alright,take it away guys" Aiden said. The 16 year old wasn't exactly good at delivering bad news to people.

The gang then explained to him how their plans usually worked and that since El didn't have her superpowers anymore,Aiden was their backup plan.

"Yeah,just need to find away to reach a dark wizard in an alternate dimension full of hideous monsters and lop his head off" Aiden smiled. "Should be pretty easy"

'Not to mention, he somehow has me on his list... Just perfect'

The thing is,Aiden wasn't exactly surprised. If the mind flayer wanted something with him,it stands to reason that Vecna would obviously want him too... But what exactly did the bastard want? Maybe he knew Aiden was as strong as El if not far stronger by now and felt threatened.

Aiden would understand why though... All he needs is a single Sharingan to end Henry and probably everything that exists in the Upside Down. That's not to say however that he was complacent or overconfident in his abilities, he vividly remembered what happened when he slacked off even the slightest bit.

His thoughts were cut short when he was hit with another sudden headache.

"Agh!"

The boy once again started to get dizzy and fall to one knee.

Not this shit again...

"Aiden?" Max took notice immediately. "Aiden, what's wrong?"

As the others gathered around him,he tried to fight through the pain but once again felt himself fading.

"Fred..."

Well played, Henry... Well played.