MARCH 26TH, 1986
📍the upside down
22:07 PM
"we think we have a theory that can help with that!" dustin told them, talking about a way to allow the others back through the gate.
eddie turned to his right happily, prepared to smile at tillie at their triumph of escaping, only to be met with an empty space. "mattie?" he whispered. "guys, where did she go?"
"what?" steve asked, turning around. "she was right—"
"shit!" eddie exclaimed, before attempting to call out for her. "mattie? mattie?"
robin darted upstairs and they began to search the house, still yelling her name, but found her nowhere. they regrouped in the middle.
"guys, what's going on?" they heard dustin echo. "where did you go?"
nancy quickly kneeled down and began writing a message to them.
"til..lie, oh tillie. what happened to tillie?" dustin questioned. "go..ne. gone? tillie's gone?"
the brunette responded with a tick, letting them know they were correct, before standing up and joining the others. "let's not panic, okay?"
"no, i think we should panic," robin replied. "considering the fact that an undead wizard is killing people, one of them being tillie's goddamn twin sister, i say we panic!"
"well.. max said earlier that all of vecna's targets have some sort of trauma, right?" nancy started, directing her question to eddie. "does tillie?"
"yeah, and she has a shit ton of it too," eddie replied frustratedly, running his hand through his hair.
"calm down, man," steve told him softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "we'll find her."
nancy noticed a figure out the window, standing still and facing the woods. she could tell instantly by the short, blonde hair and clothing who it was. "i think i already have, and it's not looking good.."
— 📻🪐🏹 —
"what do you want from me?" tillie hissed, a long tendril snaking around her stomach to keep her in place.
"you're a smart girl, matilda. you know what i want," vecna replied, reaching up and using his clawed, slender hands to move some hair from her forehead. "besides, didn't i tell you my plan earlier? you're going to join chrissy," he gestured to a fleshy pillar, where chrissy's twisted body was embedded in.
tillie let out a small audible gasp, but didn't let the fear or sadness make her give up as she continued fighting against her restraints.
"..and fred," the creature continued, pointing to the boy in the pillar besides chrissy. "and myles, of course. i did you a favor there."
"a favor?" tillie scoffed. "what, right after you took my twin sister from me?"
"i realize now that you should've been my first target," vecna replied. "i don't know why i didn't spare chrissy and go straight for you."
"i don't know why either," tillie agreed with him, struggling to breathe as one of his tendrils made its way to her neck. "surely, i would've been a far easier choice."
she by no means wanted to have a conversation with the being responsible for the death of her twin, but she knew she had to distract him to give the others a chance to save her.
— 📻🪐🏹 —
"mattie, mattie!" eddie hollered, the four of them running towards the blonde.
"don't tell me she's in a goddamn trance," steve replied upon hearing no response.
they finally reached her, and eddie began shaking her shoulders softly. "mattie? mattie! mattie, come on, i'm not doing this again. especially not with you."
the others watched him sympathetically as his voice grew more desperate. "mattie, you're not doing this to me, come on! come on, damn it!"
"we need to—" nancy started, only to be cut off as tillie's body began lifting into the air. "—find her some music. and quick."
— 📻🪐🏹 —
"you see, matilda," vecna started. "you hold a tremendous amount of guilt. for not helping chrissy, for disappointing your family and friends.. you have a magnificent hatred for yourself, and for others."
"that's not true," she shook her head, a small tear escaping her eye.
"it's not? i've seen your cries, matilda. your pain consumes you. you feel like a piece of you is dead inside, and that only grew with chrissy's death."
"stop talking like you know me," she seethed. "you've been inside my head a grand total of five minutes, you don't know shit about who i am."
"oh, but i do," vecna nodded, trailing his finger across her jawline, making a small cut. "you are just like me."
— 📻🪐🏹 —
"shit, wheeler," eddie hissed. "what music do you own?"
"er, a lot of classical, there's some beatles, er.. some billy joel," she replied hastily. "maybe a little madonna.."
"that won't do," he shrieked, completely rid with panic and fear. "do you have a guitar?"
"a guitar?" nancy repeated. "what, like an electric guitar?"
"electric, acoustic, i don't give a fuck!" eddie yelled. "any guitar will do!"
"yeah, we should still have a guitar in the basement," nancy informed him, and immediately the boy began running back in the direction of the house.
the other three began to join him, but robin quickly stopped steve.
"you're not coming," she hissed. "stay here with tillie, and be prepared to catch."
"what?" steve screeched.
"she's like over ten feet in the air, steve," the girl told him, running backwards. "if she snaps out of it and drops to the floor she will break something. so, as i said, get under her and be prepared to catch!"
the three entered the house, and nancy and eddie darted to the basement to locate the guitar, whilst robin dealt with dustin, who'd been frantically trying to contact them.
"guys, guys, guys, guys. will someone please just answer! what is going on? are you dead? if you're dead steve, i'm taking your clothes and hair products, man.."
with a sigh, robin sat down and began writing to them. 'vecna.'
"vec..na. vecna? what about vecna? have you found him? is he dead? or is the person writing this vecna? if it is, please don't kill me, i promise i'm a nice person.."
"what an idiot," robin huffed, beginning to write tillie's name to him too.
"tillie? vecna and tillie? wait— vecna's got tillie!" he screeched. "do you have music?"
robin replied with a yes, making dustin sigh in relief. she saw nancy and eddie re-emerge from the basement, a guitar in the boy's hand.
'brb,' she wrote into the energy, before standing up and following them out of the house.
"brb? what does that mean? hello?"
— 📻🪐🏹 —
"i am nothing like you," matilda spat.
"oh, but you are," vecna told her. "it's why i became so attached to you so quickly, unlike the others. it's why i didn't give you the extra suffering i gave them. because you remind me of myself."
"that's cute," she replied with shaky breaths, praying to god that the others would hurry up and play some damn music to help her get out of there. "i appreciate the sentimentality."
"yes, we have a lot more in common than you think," the man spoke, stepping forwards and moving his face nearer to hers in attempts of scaring her, which it certainly did. "sensitive, quiet, antisocial, somewhat rude. unable to fit in with those around us, viewed as weak. and, neither of us have anyone. now chrissy's gone, you have no one left to live for. which means, your time really has come to an end."
— 📻🪐🏹 —
"great, you found it," steve sighed in relief, still stood under tillie's floating body as a precaution. "now, what are you going to do with it? because i'm guessing we don't have much time left and shit is about to happen.."
"what i'm about to do," eddie started, pulling the guitar strap around his head. "will not go beyond the four of us. understood?"
"what are you going to do?" steve queried.
"do you understand?" eddie spoke clearly and firmly, preparing his fingers to play.
"yep, got it," steve nodded, falling silent.
eddie took a deep shaky breath, before beginning to strum to the rhythm of a song he knew was one of tillie's favorites. "when you were lonely, you needed a man.."
the other three's mouths dropped open in shock. "is he actually about to—? oh my god," robin murmured. "if they don't get married and have adorable little babies, i will sue."
— 📻🪐🏹 —
"that's kind of accurate, i will say," tillie agreed, beginning to feel dizzy from the lack of oxygen. "i am very overly emotional and i hate basically everyone.."
she heard a loud whooshing sound, and turned her head to see a portal opening, spotting eddie singing abba desperately, which made the biggest smile form on her face.
vecna quickly realized what was happening, and raised his hand over her face. suddenly, her mind starting replaying all the memories of her and eddie.
'i believe you.'
''happy valentine's day to the only girl in this world who talks to me.'
'if you ever need someone to drive you around for a change, let me know.'
'i want us to match.'
'keep complimenting me like that, princess, and i'll begin to think you're in love with me.'
'have you seen me on my guitar? someone with a shaky hand can't play like that.'
'egotistical.'
'lay on me, you idiot. i'll be your mattress.'
'eddie..'
'it's okay. it's okay. just don't look.'
'i had this plan to run away the second i graduate.'
'by yourself? that's so lame.'
'maybe i could still run away. and since it's so lame to do it by myself, maybe you should come with me.'
'i would go absolutely anywhere with you.'
"but you got one thing wrong," she told him, maneuvering her leg through the tendril. "i do have someone worth living for.."
thankful for her flexibility, she was able to slip her leg out of his grip and kick him harshly, making him withdraw his tendril from around her neck.
without wasting another second, she began sprinting towards the portal, panting heavily as tears streamed down her face, eddie's melodic voice being the only thing keep her sane.
vecna hastily began following her, using his powers to send debris flying at her, which she narrowly dodged.
"you cannot run from me, matilda!" he hollered angrily, gaining on her.
she ran through a small puddle of water, which turned out to be deeper than she thought and ended up tripping her up. she grunted as she hit the floor, before looking up and seeing vecna stood over her.
"shit," she whispered, turning around and seeing she wasn't far from the portal now. she kicked the being in his shin, before scrambling back to her feet and continuing to run, thankful that years of track had allowed her legs to not cave in yet.
"falling in love with a woman like you, happens so quickly, there's nothing to do.." eddie sang desperately as she approached the portal.
just as she started to jump, vecna reached out a tendril to grab her foot and it became a race of time between them. the question was, who would get there first?
— 📻🪐🏹—
idek what to say..
i'm sure y'all are not dumb and can figure out the difference in scenes without me having to put the 📍 and tell you where shit is happening because babes i was not wasting my time on writing that every ten seconds
in other words, i found a steve fanfic i wrote a few months ago which has like ten chapters already written so i'm thinking about editing and posting it but idk
i have writers block with the other steve fic so i've decided to unpublish it until i get inspo but i still have a lot of ideas for this one lmao
it's called 'this town' and it's a best friends to strangers to lovers kinda thing
oh and the oc is hopper's daughter 😽
lmk if it it's something you guys would like!! <3
WORD COUNT — 1992.