march 26, 1986
"nancy!" steve shouted, shaking her shoulders. "hey. hey! nancy! stay with me! nancy! wake up!"
"nancy!" bea screamed in her ear.
she tried to plot a way to save her. every plan she thought of she knew wouldn't work. she knew this was a last resort, but it was the only option left. unlike vecna's attempt with max, bea had time to think her options through.
bea wasn't sure if this was going to work. she didn't use her abilities anymore to avoid being noticed. she hadn't tried in years and she was never really good at using this one to begin with, but she had to try to save nancy.
she looked up to the group above them through the portal. "listen up, children! here's the plan, find out her favorite song while i'm gone—"
"while you're gone?" steve shouted, freaking the fuck out. "what the hell do you mean while you're gone?"
"i'm going in."
while steve was still freaking out, beatrice looked towards nancy and closed her eyes. her ears began to ring with the rush of energy she used. her eyes began to twitch and she stood completely still.
"bea?" steve screamed, being left with two tranced bodies. "what the hell is going on?"
nancy hit the bottom of what looked to be steve's pool. she groaned as she landed on the cold, hard concrete. she slowly got up, aching from the pain. she looked around the vine-ridden pool, hoping to find a way out. her eyes fixed down on a body. she walked towards it, stepping over vines. she looked closer to the body covered in vines.
nancy gasped, realizing the corpse was her best friend, barb. a slug slowly made its way out of barb's mouth. nancy began hyperventilating at the sight of what became of her friend.
suddenly, a booming voice sounded. "do you remember what you did, nancy?"
nancy looked up, searching for the source of the voice.
"or have you already forgotten?" vecna taunted. "when i kill someone, i never forget."
nancy's eyes widened as the pool began to fill with a sickening dark liquid. blood. nancy ran for the ladder out of the pool before it drowned her in blood.
beatrice's eyes snapped open. she stood in the rainbow room once again.
"beatrice," vecna sneers. bea looked around for the creature. "what a pleasant surprise. never would've expected sweet, passive beatrice to join in voluntarily."
the lab fell almost silent. the only noise came from the buzzing of the fluorescent lights. she looked at her surroundings. she gasped as she saw blood-covered floors. her eyes focused on the shattered window. she slowly approached it, anticipating what was coming. the wall behind the window was cracked from impact.
"all that power, wasted." his voice grew more and more venomous with every word he spat.
as she looked to the opposing side, her shaky hand flew to her mouth. she trembled seeing the sight. peter's body lay on the floor, lifeless. her breath became unsteady and her legs felt weak, but she convinced herself to push on for nancy. for max. for peter.
"you killed him because you never loved him to begin with. you couldn't save him. you didn't save him. you watched as you let eleven kill him. he died unloved. because of you."
she pulled her eyes away from peter's corpse. it wasn't fair. she knew she loved him and she didn't need anyone else to tell her otherwise. she loved him more than he would ever know. even through his malice, she loved him, but she knew the right thing to do was to sacrifice her happiness for the sake of everyone else's. she would be more content saving others than ruling a world built on the blood of humanity with peter.
she ran out of the double doors of the rainbow room and suddenly, she was at the top of a pool ladder.
nancy began to climb up the ladder, trying to escape the rising blood. as she made her way to the top, a hand reached out to pull her up.
"bea," nancy sighed in relief. bea pulled her to the surface level. ticking from a clock echoed all around as they looked around. they stood at the top of a torn staircase.
"where are we?" bea asked, looking around the hellish landscape.
"vecna's mindscape," nancy replied, almost at a whisper.
they began to walk down together, nancy taking the lead. bea could've sworn she heard screaming and wailing in the distance. the floating, old grandfather clock caused the two to flinch in response to its taunting chime. debris and other pieces floated around the red landscape. lightning cracked all around.
"i see you've been looking for me. you were so close, nancy. so close to the truth. how was old, blind, dumb victor? did he miss me? i've been meaning to check back in, but i've been busy."
bea shrieked at the scene in front of her. nancy's mouth fell open. fred's mangled body was tangled up against a pillar, wrapped in vines. his eyes were gone and his mouth hung in permanent shock.
"so very busy."
suddenly, their surroundings began to shift and they were back in the creel house, only it was clean and newer. a man walked in with a hat on, his family following close behind.
"what'd i tell ya?" the man says, smiling.
his wife smiled, "wow."
two children walked in. nancy had known them as alice and henry creel, victor's late children.
"this is amazing!" alice exclaimed, twirling around the foyer. "it looks like a fairy tale. a dream."
nancy and beatrice watched as the girl faced upstairs.
"alice, no running," her mother called.
"it's so big!"
the man wraps his arm around his wife's shoulders. "this is nice."
bea's eye fixed on the little boy, who stood behind them.
"yeah," his wife responded, content.
bea was stuck on henry. he looked so much like—
the scene suddenly changed. they were in a hallway, following henry.
lights flickered from the bathroom. nancy and beatrice peered in through the door as the boy crouched to a vent. he stuck his hand it and picked up a black widow on his hands.
suddenly, the boy was gone, running behind them. beatrice led as they followed him into the basement. the basement had an altar of candles and spiders in jars. they watched as young henry doodled the spiders.
nancy led beatrice back down the stairs as henry approached the grandfather clock. the clock ticked menacingly. henry closed his eyes and the hands of the clocks began to move, distorting the chime. his eyes began to move rapidly under his eyelids as the clock began to move backward, quickly.
they turned around and they were in the creel backyard. a rabbit had got caught in a trap. henry came up behind it as it fought to escape. henry reached a hand to it and it fell to the ground in pain.
its bones began to crack and its body distorted as it shrieked.
nancy pulled beatrice to the door. they were back in the foyer. nancy looked to the side and saw victor looking at what seemed to be a crib in the fireplace, replacing the firewood.
beatrice looked opposite of nancy, following the light into the living room. nancy turned around and followed her from the living room into the dining room. 'dream a little dream' played faintly in the background.
the family sat at a long dinner table. the music began to garble and become static. while his father was distracted, victor looked to his mother. he closed his eyes and the lights began to flicker.
his mother flew up to the ceiling. alice began to scream as her bones began to snap and her eyes pulled into the back of her head. her body slammed onto the dining room table. he wiped the blood from his nose before his father picked him up to evacuate the children as fast as he could.
beatrice ran to the foyer. victor stood dormant at the door. alice laid at his feet, dead. henry was behind both of them, controlling the whole situation. the lights flickered in response to his powers.
the boy dropped to the floor worn out and victor snapped out of his trance, seeing his two children on the floor, lifeless.
victor was arrested for henry's doings and henry woke up in hawkins laboratory.
"no," beatrice whispered, hand coming up to her mouth.
beatrice saw the familiar chair where she, too, was given a number. younger brenner tattooed the number '001' onto the boy's wrist.
"no!" she screamed at the vision. "fuck you!"
nancy looked at beatrice, confused. she didn't understand why was bea reacting like that, but she understood she was distressed.
the scene changed once more. the moment when beatrice left. nancy and beatrice saw young beatrice run away as the man began to dematerialize into nothing. she left that moment for a reason. she knew he would die and she wouldn't watch. and now she was being forced to watch.
he knew it would crush her. his screams echoed through the room, drowning out eleven's. she could only focus on him. when the particles cleared, all that was left behind was what looked to be a tear or a portal to another world. vines writhed inside, falling into the tear.
peter fell between worlds, yelling. bolts of lightning hit his body causing his body to burn and deform as he screamed in pain.
beatrice wanted to close her eyes, but he wouldn't let her look away. he was vecna.
the love of her life. peter. 001. he was henry creel. he was peter ballard. he was number one. he was vecna.
the man she thought died was alive. the man she mourned and had nightmares about was alive. she had spent years and years trying to get back on her feet and to live a life peter would have wanted, only to have that torn away.
he was alive, for the most part, and now, he was the one wreaking havoc on hawkins and the ones she loved.
"you son of a fucking bitch."