"It was here, right here," Max said, feeling like a crazy person as she stared at the blank wall. There wasn't even a crack where the ominous clock had been.
"A grandfather clock?" Nancy asked.
Max nodded. It was like she could still hear the ticking in her ears, echoing around her skull. "It was so real. And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just...I woke up."
"It was like she was in a trance or something," Dustin added. "Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy."
"That's not even the bad part," Max said, her voice shaking. She quickly walked to Ms. Kelley's office, signaling for everyone to follow her. "Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Ms. Kelley for help. They both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then the nightmares. Trouble sleeping – they'd wake up in a cold sweat. And then they started seeing things, bad things from their past. These visions, they just, they kept on getting worse and worse until eventually... everything ended."
"Vecna's curse," Robin muttered.
"Chrissy's headaches started a week ago. Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days," Max explained. Her voice was choked as tears pooled in her blue eyes.
Kim felt like the floor had fallen out from under her feet. There was nothing keeping her from tumbling down, down, down. All she knew in that moment was that she would do anything she could to keep Max safe.
"I don't know how long I have," Max went on. "All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than 24 hours after their first vision. And I just saw that goddamn clock, so... looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow."
The group's adrenaline kicked in at the sound of a door opening somewhere in the school.
"Stay here," Steve warned, grabbing a lamp and going to investigate.
Kim rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Yeah, well, screw that." She grabbed the stapler off of Ms. Kelley's desk and followed after Steve.
The rest of the group exchanged a look before following Kim. Nobody had ever discussed it, but there was just something about Kim that made people want to follow her. Maybe it was the way she genuinely cared so much about everyone or maybe it was the way her fearlessness inspired them, but there was a silent agreement between the group that they would follow Kim anywhere.
Still leading the group, Steve and Kim shared a glace. It was the first non-hostile interaction between the two of them since their fight the night before. They felt some level of comfort in the fact that whatever they were about to face, armed only with a lamp and a stapler, they were going to do it together. Like they always did.
The sound of running down the next hallway snapped them out of it and set them both on edge again. The whole group screamed as someone came flying around the corner. Kim held the stapler like a gun, shooting off staples in every direction until she realized who it was.
"Lucas?" she asked in disbelief.
"Jesus, what's wrong with you, Sinclair?" Steve yelled.
"I'm sorry," Lucas panted.
"I could've taken you out with this lamp!" Steve exclaimed before throwing it dejectedly against the wall.
"Sorry guys," Lucas continued to try and catch his breath. "I-I was biking for eight miles. Give me a second. Shit. We've got a code red."
"What?" Steve scoffed.
Lucas walked past Steve and Kim to his old friend. "Dustin, I've been with Jason, Patrick, and Andy, and they're gone totally off the rails. They're trying to capture Eddie, and they think you know where he is. You're in terrible danger."
"Alright yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason right now," Dustin looked back at Max, giving her the chance to explain.
•••••
After Max explained everything again, the group went to the Wheeler's house to spend the night. They were all exhausted and pretty much collapsed on the floor or the couches the second they got into the Wheeler's basement, but Robin, Kim, and Nancy were determined to show the rest of the group the newspaper they had found on Victor Creel.
Steve paced around the basement, the next morning grumbling while Nancy, Kim, and Robin were upstairs discussing their plan on how to get more information about Victor Creel. "Okay to be honest, do you guys understand any of this?" he asked Lucas and Dusin.
"No," Lucas replied at the same time Dustin said "Pretty straight forward."
"Oh, straight forward, really?" Steve said sarcastically.
"Well, what's confusing to you?" Dustin asked. "So far everyone Vecna has cursed has died, except for this old Victor Creel dude Nancy found. He's the only known survivor. If anyone knows how to beat this curse, it's him."
"Yeah, that's assuming he was cursed, Henderson, which we don't even know," Steve pointed out. "How can Venca have existed back in the '50s? It doesn't make sense."
"As far as we know, Eleven didn't create the Upside Down. She opened a gate to it," Dustin explained. "The Upside Down has probably been around for thousands of years. Millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs."
Steve scoffed. "Dinosaurs? What are we–"
"Okay, okay," Lucas cut in. "But if a gate didn't exist in the '50s, how did Vecna get through?"
"Oh, and how's he getting through now?' Steve asked.
"And why now?" Lucas added.
"And why then? Just pops out in the '50s, kills one family, and he's like, 'I'm good.' And poof, he just disappears? He's just gone? Only to return 30 years later and start killing some random teens? No, I don't buy it. Straight forward, my ass. You know, honestly, Henderson, a little humility now and then wouldn't hurt you."
"Sorry," Dustin said, not really meaning it but just wanting Steve to shut up.
Steve plopped down in the armchair, legs crossed as he continued to study the newspaper.
Dustin sighed as his eyes fell on Max. "Any idea what she's writing? Did she sleep?"
"I mean, would you?" Lucas asked.
The basement door opened and the three boys sat up straighter as Nancy, Kim, and Robin walked downstairs.
Nancy took a breath before starting to talk. "Okay, so, we have a plan."
They explained as quickly as they could, finishing each other's sentences and acting like the three of them had been friends their whole lives.
"Thanks to Nancy's minions, we are now rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame," Robin said.
"I'm now Ruth," Nancy said with a smile. "And this is Rose," she gestured to Robin, "and Rebecca," she pointed at Kim.
Dustin picked up Kim's fake transcript. "No one who knows you is going to buy that this is your gpa, Rebecca," Dustin pointed to the 3.9.
"Well, it's a good thing they won't know me then," Kim glarred him, snatching the papers back.
Nancy continued her explanation. "So we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we'd like to speak with Victor Creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics–"
"To which they said no," Robin chimed in.
"But we landed a three o'clock with the director," Nancy finished.
"Now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor," Robin added.
"And then maybe we can rid Max of this curse," Kim said.
"Yeah, uh, about that," Steve made eye contact with Kim and it was like he forgot how to speak. "Um, uh, we've been doing our Victor Creel homework, and, uh, we've got some questions."
"Lots of questions," Lucas nodded.
"So do we," Nancy said. "Hopefully, Victor has the answers."
"Wait, wait, wait a second. Uh, where's mine?" Steve asked, looking through the files for one with a guy's name.
The three girls pursed their lips, knowing Steve wasn't going to like this.
"Y-you're not coming with us," Kim finally replied.
"What?" Steve chuckled, hoping that she was joking.
"Um, Robin, let's uh go get changed," Nancy suggested, eyes darting between Kim and Steve. "We should, uh, look the part."
"Yeah, I'll come with you guys," Kim nodded, starting to follow the other girls up the stairs.
He followed after them, not willing to let it go as they marched into Nancy's room. "You guys are outta your mind if you think I'm babysitting again."
"Okay, first of all, they're not babies anymore," Kim snapped, spinning around to face him. "And Max is in real danger. She needs people around her."
"I know, but why does it always have to be me?" Steve asked.
"Oh my God, you have a Tom Cruise poster!" Robin exclaimed, raising her eyebrows at Nancy.
"Th-that's old," Nancy muttered. "Can you please not touch anything? You know what, Kim, find us outfits, I'm gonna just make sure Robin doesn't break any of my things."
"On it," Kim saluted.
"I just can't do anything here, Kimmy," Steve went on. "Maybe I can be helpful with this asylum director dude. I don't know, I could, like, turn on my charm."
Kim tried not to smile. "Not the kind of charm we need."
"Ouch," Steve muttered.
Hating to see them fight, Nancy stepped in. "Look, I did a little digging last night, and it turns out that this Dr. Hatch is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Harvard visiting scholar, okay? This is a lifelong student of the world. If we're gonna win him over, we're gonna have to convince him we are too. That, like him, we are true academic scholars."
"Holy shit," Robin whispered excitedly, picking up Nancy's jewelry box. "There's a little ballerina in here!"
"Academic scholar?" Steve scoffed. "She's giving you an academic scholar vibe?"
"No, but..." Kim pulled out three of Nancy's frilliest, snootiest dresses. "She will."
Robin looked at the dresses like they were the most horrendous things in the world. "Oh, please, tell me you're joking."
•••••
After she and the other girls had changed into their new clothes they started to head outside towards Nancy's car.
Before Kim could get all the way out the door, Steve stopped her. "Can we just talk, for like two seconds before you go?"
Kim closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Steve, we have an appointment at three. We can't be late."
"I know, I know," he nodded, biting the inside of his cheek nervously.
She sighed and looked at Nancy and Robin who were in the car frantically waving for her to hurry up. She signaled to them to wait a minute. "What?"
"I-I know we're in a fight and everything, but you still mean the world to me," he said. He wanted to lean down and kiss her so badly, hold her hand even, just something so she didn't feel so distant. "Just please be careful, okay?"
She nodded. "Let me know on the walky if anything happens to Max." She turned ready to walk out the Wheeler's door when she decided to turn around. "And, Steve, I need you to be careful too, okay?"
He nodded at her and smiled, a bit of the weight lifted off his chest.
A.N. hi guys!!! so i know we're all in love with eddie muson and i've been considering writing an eddie fic. what are your guy's thoughts on that? would you read it? im thinking kinda sunshine and darkness dynamic but im not sure. let me know what you guys think! love you all <3