"Riley!" Eleven ran over to my side, dropping to her knees in front of me. I shook my head, waving her towards Max.
"Get Max, don't worry about me." She nodded, getting up and running over to her as I thrust all of my body weight into the chair, finally managing to pull it out of the floor and shove it away from me.
She shoved her way through the silver tinsel, grabbing Max's shoulders as she stood to her feet.
"Max. Are you ok?"
"Huh?"
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah." I stood up, brushing the shards of wood off of me as I rushed over to join them.
Max reached up, pinching El's cheek and touching her newly shaven hair.
"Are you real?" She asked. "Di...did I make you?"
Eleven let go of her, holding her hand between both of hers.
"I'm real." She assured her.
"How?"
"I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer." I chuckled, shaking my head.
"Ugh! How are you so freaking smart?!" I exclaimed, grabbing her head and pressing my lips to the top of it. She laughed.
"What?" Max questioned. I shook my head again.
"I'm sure there will be plenty of time to explain later, for now, we have to-"
A clattering sound from behind me cut me off, prompting Eleven and I to turn around and walk back through the streamers just as Vecna peeled himself from the bleachers. I held back a hand, silently urging Max to stay behind us.
"Stay back." Eleven said, doing the same thing. He began slowly walking towards the center of the gym, and Eleven joined him, stopping a few feet away with the disco ball spinning directly between them. I wrapped my arms around Max, hugging her to my side. "If you touch them again...I will kill you again."
"Again?" I whispered to myself, furrowing my eyebrows.
"Is that what you did?" Vecna questioned. "Did you kill me? I am so glad you are here, Eleven. This...is going to be...beautiful."
He raised his arms slowly to his sides, drawing the spikes of wood from the broken floor and bleachers into the air, pointing them directly at Eleven.
"And its all thanks to you."
He flexed his hand, sending them all plummeting towards Eleven, and despite the stupidity of it all, the second I saw him coming after my little sister, it was as if everything was moving in slow motion. I let go of Max, running forward until I was standing directly in front of Eleven. I threw my hands up, letting out a scream as I poured every ounce of strength, I had left into keeping those wood shards away from my sister.
Much to my surprise, they slowed to a stop in mid hair, allowing me to rip my hands in either direction and send them piercing into the remaining bleachers on either side of us. Eleven looked at me with wide, shocked eyes as Vecna responded by catapulting me backwards onto the DJ table, breaking through it with my body as he used his other hand to throw Eleven the opposite direction. She slid across one of the tables, taking out everything that was on top of it as she rolled onto the floor.
From there, he lifted both of us into the air again, pulling us so that we were side by side before tossing us together through the wood fencing that had made up the photobooth area.
"You have to stop," Eleven groaned, leaning up on her hands as she looked at me, "I can handle him. I've done it before. Your powers are brand new."
"Its a bit late for that," I told her, "We're in this together now, whether we like it or not. You can take the lead, but I'm your back up, you got it?"
"Backup." She agreed with a nod. We both sat up as Max elt out a scream, running up behind Vecna with one of the discarded wood spikes. He easily tossed her away from him, sending her sliding across the floor into the bleachers just as he had with me only moments earlier.
I ran over to check on her as Eleven faced Vecna head on, each of them throwing their powers towards each other at the exact same time.
Eleven groaned as he overpowered her, lifting her up into the air and drawing her towards him with a flip of his wrist. I kept my hands on Max's arms, wincing as she slowly floated closer to him, stopping only inches away from his face.
"Before I kill you," He said quietly, "I want you to watch."
He shoved her away from him and she screamed as she flew through the balloon arch and into a red, cloudy portal that no doubt led back to his original lair where Max and I had originally fought him. He turned to me and I stood up, only for the force of his power to close around my throat, cutting off my air supply.
"I want both of you," He pressed, pulling me slowly towards him, "to watch."
I was tossed through the portal next, only being allowed to lay on the ground for a second before my old archnemesis, the tenticle-ly vines wrapped around my arms and legs and suspended me to the crumbling wall beside Eleven, the rose door remaining between us as our arms and legs were suspended in all directions.
I rotated my wrist, attempting to pull my arm free, but in all honest it was a miracle I was even conscious at this point.
I turned my head, looking at Eleven as she blearily opened her eyes. I followed her gaze, watching as Vecna came through the portal last, with Max slung limply over his shoulder.
He dropped her to the ground beside the fireplace, letting the vines pull her up onto the wall just as it had with us, pulling her arms out to her sides in preparation to be his final sacrifice.
"Papa is dead!" Eleven called out. Vecna paused, looking over his shoulder before turning around to look at her. "I know what he did to you."
Her voice broke as she spoke, and Vecna slowly began walking towards us, soaking in her every word.
"You were different...like me. And he hurt you. He made you...into this. He is the monster, Henry. Not you. Not you! "
"You're right," He said, stepping up onto the pedestal so he could stand directly in front of her, "You...and I. We are different. And Papa did hurt me...but he was no monster. He was just a man. An Ordinary, mediocre man. That is why he sought greatness in others. In you. And me."
He lifted his hand, putting his finger under her chin.
"Don't touch her!" I shouted, struggling against the vines. He ignored me, keeping his eyes fully trained on her.
"But in the end, he could not control us...he could not shape us...he could not change us. Do you not see, Eleven? He did not make me into this. You did. At first, I believed you had sent me to my death. To purgatory. But I was wrong. I was somewhere new. I became an explorer. An explorer of a realm unspoiled by mankind. I saw so many things. And one day, I found the most extraordinary thing of all...something...that would change everything. I saw a means to realize my potential, to transcend my human form, to become the predator I was always born to be. "
"It was..." Eleven trailed off. "It was you. Always you."
"All I needed was someone to open the door..." He moved, slowly coming to stand in front of me. He lifted his hand so that it hovered over my face, "And your sister did that for me...without even realizing it...didn't you?"
He dug his finger tips into my face and I gasped, suddenly being transported into a vision.
I saw my younger self running down the road the night of my argument with my father. I had been so angry, and so upset that I hadn't even realized what was going on behind me. The wind roared, swaying the trees in every area that I passed, and the streetlamps flickered in my wake.
This was the truth. My powers never came from the Upside Down. I was born this way. The way the chemicals from the war affected my father, they affected me too, but rather then killing me...it changed me. I have always been like Eleven, like One, like the other kids in the lab. We have always been the same, just like he told me before, only just like Vecna, the Upside Down strengthened my abilities...it took what had always remained dormant inside of me, with the exception of one fateful night...and it awakened my true potential...just like him.
"Somehow, she managed to open not just one gate...but two. She escaped, but she weakened the fabric between our worlds...she made it possible for that door to be opened again...but this time...by you."
Images flashed through my mind of Eleven, touching the Demogorgon in that dark place that I had seen her in before. I saw her screaming through a clear helmet, and saw the wall of the lab crumbling and becoming the original gate.
"And when you did realize what had been done...you chose to resist."
I watched as Eleven stood in a classroom at Hawkins Middle, turning the Demogorgon into dust, followed by myself, shooting at it desperately in the Byers' living room. I saw El again, the previous year, enclosing the Mind Flayer inside the gate as she closed it, before the image quickly faded into me again, slashing up Demodogs with my axe in the junk yard.
"So I sought a means to open my own doors. I thought bringing Riley into the Upside Down would awaken her power. I wanted to strengthen her abilities and harness them for my own use...but I failed."
I suddenly saw myself face down in the field behind the Middle School, my arms wrapped around Will, and then I saw myself standing beside Joyce and Will at their kitchen table.
"We don't know that either," I stated, "But I think it wants us. I don't know why, or how, or for what purpose but its coming after us for a reason."
So I sought...your power."
The fleshy Mind Flayer from last year crashed through the roof of the Cabin, grabbing Eleven's leg and dragging her away.
"All this time, We've been building it," Billy said, looking straight into my eyes, as I watched Eleven fail to move the car from the mall with her mind, "For you."
"So don't you see?" Vecna asked. "Once again, you have freed me."
I created the first two gates. The one that took me into the Upside Down, and the one that allowed me to escape. This weakened to barrier, allowing El to open the third gate by mistake. I think...I think he might have taken Will into the Upside Down in order to get to me. He knew I would investigate if another kid went missing, and he brought the Demogorgon back to come after me. Eleven killed it...so he sent the Mind Flayer. I don't think it was ever after Will, I think it was after me. He wanted to control me and use my power, but he ended up capturing Will by mistake. Eleven closed the gate, so his only other option was to create another Mind Flayer and use it to steal Eleven's Powers. That is what he used to kill the other three victims, and that is how he opened the gates.
Eleven sent him into the Upside Down...and ever since he's been after me. All of this, everything that's happened its...its because of me, and when he couldn't get to me, he took Will and Eleven instead.
"You don't have to do this," Eleven sobbed, "You can still stop this."
"It is over, Eleven," He said, glancing between us, "Your friends...have lost."
He dug his fingers harder into my face, allowing me to see the rest of our friends.
Lucas was pinned up against the wall, still bathed in blue light as Jason punched him over and over again. I saw Eddie, surrounded by a swarm of bats, hitting them away with his trash can lid shield. One of the bats' tentacles shot out, wrapping around his neck and pulling him down while two more sunk their teeth into his sides.
"EDDIE!' I screamed, tears streaming down my face.
"There is nothing...nothing you can do to stop this now. Hawkins will burn...and fall, like the rest of this senseless, broken world."
Robin, Nancy, and Steve were all pinned to the walls of the Creel house, with tentacles wrapped around their throats, choking the life out of them.
I shook my head, pulling at the vines at the sight of my husband and my friends all dying...all because of me.
"And I will be there. I will be there to pick up the pieces when it does."
Erica pounded on the attic door, screaming her brother's name as Jason continued to strangle him in the attic.
"And remake it into something...beautiful. There was a time when I had hoped to have you two by my side." He grabbed Eleven's chin in his fingers, finally taking his hand away from my face. "But now I just want you to watch."
He turned away from us, walking towards Max as two more vines slithered down from the wall, wrapping around our necks and holding our heads up so that we had no choice but to watch as he came to a stop in front of her.
"Its all my fault." I rasped, glancing at Eleven as best I could. "I always felt like it was...but now I know the truth."
"No," She cried, "You didn't know."
I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut as tears streamed down the sides of my face.
"I've gotten them all killed," I sobbed, "Every last one of them."
"Don't be afraid," He placed his fingers on Max's cheek, staring down at her as she cried in front of him, "Try to stay very still. It will all be over soon."
He lifted his hand, extending his fingers over the expanse of her face.
"Max!"
"STOP, YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" I screamed, pulling back at the vines. "PLEASE! Please, don't do this, you can't do this..."
The vine around my throat began to tighten, cutting off my screams as the breath was squeezed from my lungs. I shook my head, yanking my hands against the vines.
"I'm...sorry," I choked, "I'm...so...sorry."
"Help...me." I glanced out of the corner of my eye to see taht El was looking at me. "We...can fight...together...Help me."
My eyes slowly travelled up to where our hands were tied. There was only about an inch of space between our hands. I uncurled my hand, reaching towards her, and she reached back, intertwining her fingers with mine. I met her eyes again and she nodded.
I faced forward, closing my eyes and drawing every last morsel of energy that I could muster towards me. A warm, tingling feeling passed through my body, stemming from the center of my chest and spreading throughout my body. It traveled down my arm, through my hand and into my fingertips, and the feeling only got stronger where Eleven's hand made contact with mine.
The vines slowly began to loosen, retracting themselves away from us. As it did so, I began to see the others again, the visions filling my head once more, only this time I was in control of them.
Lucas grabbed Jason's jacket, slamming his head through one of the boarded up windows. Once he was free, he started delivering punches to his face, knocking him to the ground.
I saw Eddie, blood covering his neck and mouth as the bats continued to swarm around him. Dustin limped towards him, screaming his name with tears streaming down his face.
Eleven and I both let out ear drum-shattering screams as the warm energy overwhelmed us. The vines fell away from our limbs and we both fell to our knees on the ground.
I tightened my grip on her hand, sharing a look with her before throwing my free hand towards Vecna in perfect unison with hers. The energy streamed out of us like a tidal wave, hitting him away from Max and driving him into one of the pillars that had been set aside for his victims.
Another scream ripped through us, blood gushing from our noses, and Max fell to the ground as her own vines released her.
Vecna roared in pain, and I suddenly saw a burst of fire in my mind, followed by the release of Steve, Nancy, and Robin, as well as an image of the swarming demobats dropping like flies to the ground.
Much to my surprise though, rather than the image simply fading away as all the others had, it simply transformed around me. The red sky, the ground, the vines, Max, Eleven, and Vecna, they all faded from view, and were replaced with black nothingness.
All I could see was Eddie, lying on his back on the ground as Demobats chittered their final breaths around him.
"EDDIE?! Eddie, oh..." Dustin limped towards him, throwing down his spear and dropping to his knees beside him. I dropped down on the other side, putting a hand on Eddie's forehead and combing over it with my thumb.
"What did you do?" I whispered.
"Bad, huh?" He asked.
"No, no you're gonna be fine, we just gotta get you to a hospital, ok?" Dustin told him.
"Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, come on." Dustin tried to lift him to his feet, but was having a difficult time doing so.
"I think I just...I think I just need a second, ok?" Eddie told him.
"Ok." He smiled up at Dustin through a mouthfull of blood-covered teeth.
"I didn't run away this time, right?" He asked, his voice breaking. I put a hand over my mouth as tears welled in my eyes.
"No. No, no, no, no, no...you didn't run." Dustin cried.
"You're gonna have to look after those little sheep for me, ok?"
"No, you're gonna do that yourself!"
"Nah, man," I shook my head, sobbing horsely, "Say 'I'm gonna look after them'. Say it."
"I'm...I'm gonna look after them."
"Good," Eddie told him, chuckling weakly, "Cause I'm actually gonna graduate. I think its my year, Henderson. I think its finally my year. I love you, man."
"I love you too."
Eddie looked away from him, tears dripping from the corners of his eyes. I shook my head, reaching up and wiping them away with my fingers.
"No, Eddie, stop," I cried, putting my hand on his chest, "Ok, I know you can't hear me, I know that, but if you can, you better not die on me right now, do you hear me? So many..."
My voice broke, and I struggled to get any words out as my body shook.
"So many people have died because of me," I choked out, "I'm not...I'm not gonna sit here and watch you die too."
"Eddie..." Dustin cried. "Eddie? Eddie?"
Much like with Eleven...Eddie had his own specific kind of Energy. I could feel him, and I knew that it was him I was feeling because it was so specific. He just felt so...bright. It was like sunshine. There was just so much warmth and joy and...acceptance. You could feel it all, I could feel it all from the second I arrived in this place.
But as I put my hand on his chest, and as Dustin's cries filled my ears I could feel his energy fading. The joy was being dampened the light...was going out.
"Hey," Dustin prompted, "Come on."
"You can't do this to me!" I bawled. "YOU CAN'T LEAVE LIKE THIS!"
"EDDIE!"
I fell forward, laying my forehead on his chest. I closed my eyes, grasping at his energy as it began to disappear, getting harder and harder to feel. I chased after it, reaching out to it, the same way I would reach for memories in people's heads. Every time I felt myself getting close to it...every time it began to feel closer and more solid, it would slip through my fingers yet again, until...
Finally I caught it.