TW: TOXIC MEN, VECNA
IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE
SONGS THAT WOULD SAVE SLOANE FROM VECNA
SOME CUTE MEMORIES & MUSIC I THINK WOULD SAVE SLOANE FROM VECNA'S CURSE
Sloane stepped around the gloomy darkness — she had a strange feeling this was not her Hawkins. She looked everywhere for Steve, calling out his name as she looked around the cold boulders. Eddie was no longer beside her and for a brief moment — she wondered if he just ran off again.
"Sloane."
"Steve!" She ran into her brother's arms— he was cold, "Steve you're freezing, we need to get you a—" she screamed as she jumped backwards, it wasn't Steve. It was that—monster they'd all been talking about. Learning about. Dealing with.
"No, you're not here."
"Oh, but I am, Sloane. And, I want you to join me."
"No, I've got— my brother will find me in here! Eddie will come back! Or, or Robin or someone!"
"Oh," the monster's eyes softened, "they don't want you. That is why no one has come. That is why everyone around you leaves you. Your mother. Your father. Jesse. Steve. Eddie. They do not want you, Sloane, they do not need you. I can make it all end."
"No!" Sloane ran, as fast as her short legs would carry her. She found refuge as the sky seemed to lighten up and she could see someone in the distance.
"Eddie!"
"Sloane!" He ran, picking her up and twirling her around. It was oddly romantic for their friendship, but she was just glad she was safe.
"I was scared he had me. He was pretending to be Steve and he said that you guys don't love me and—"
"Love you?" Eddie stepped back and furrowed his brows, folding his hands together in a very poised stance. Unusual. "Why would we—love you?" Suddenly, Steve stepped from behind Eddie, and Robin from behind Steve. They were walking straight to Sloane, she took steps back in caution from the evil look glowing in their eyes.
"Love you? Mom and dad don't even love you, why would I, daddy's little princess? or should I say, daddy's little whore?" Steve stepped closer, the evil grin sneaking up on his face.
"You couldn't get your head out of your ass for two seconds, Sloane, to notice anyone else around you? Who loves that?" Robin was next, eyes darkening as black widow spiders crawled out of her smile.
Tripping over a branch, Sloane screamed in horror as she hit the cold ground with a thump. She swallowed as she closed her eyes, wincing in pain. When she looked back up, it was only Eddie.
"You really are dumb, Sloane. Why would someone like me, love you? You are the bane of my existence and the very object of all my problems, if you would've just spoken up about that night maybe I'd still be alive and you'd be—"
"'Cause the boy with the cold hard cash, is always Mr. Right..."
Sloane furrowed her brows in confusion as she looked back up to see the monster. Vecna. Madonna boomed through the dark oasis, the same dark oasis that was literally going up in smoke before her. Sloane took a deep breath as she closed her eyes and remembered Max's tip: happy memories.
"Holy shit! You actually said you dumped his ass? Atta girl!" Sloane giggled, pulling out of the mall parking lot. Madonna's voice danced throughout Sloane's car as the two younger girls sat in the back, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after their girl's day at the mall. Sloane smiled, looking in the rear view mirror to only barely see the redhead and the brunette in the massive pile of shopping bags." I would've paid money to see his face."
Sloane whipped open her eyes at the disruption in the music.
"Living in a — living in a — living in a — livi-"
The music suddenly cut off completely before the monster appeared in front of Sloane again.
"What's your deal, you prick?" Sloane shot up, running the opposite direction. The Harrington girl had no idea where she was at this point as some red, goopy liquid she only hoped wasn't the blood of Vecna's victims stained her perfectly pink Keds.
"Tonight the music seems so loud, I wish that we could lose this crowd..."
"Are you kidding me?" Had the situation not been so dire, Sloane would've cackled. Instead, she only groaned to herself and knew that Eddie had to have put this on.
Tears brimmed her eyes as she continued to run, legs and chest burning because whatever worked for Max wasn't working for her.
"She ain't got no money, her clothes are kinda funny, her hair is kinda wild and free..."
"Oh, but love grows, where my Slo-oane-y goes!" Steve sang as he spun Sloane around the living room, knocking over mom's brand new vase from California in the process. Neither missing a beat as they danced around the living room, Sloane soon forgot what'd she'd been crying about to begin with and Steve was just smiling because she was.
In the distance, Sloane could see a bright light ahead of her, when she turned back to see Vecna holding his arms out. Facing the bright light again, Sloane could only think she was running into the gates of Heaven when a crash of a house remain flew into her path, blood splashing on her entire frontside. Somehow she dodged the large scraps, and running closer to the bright light she saw... herself?
In the air.
Just like Chrissy.
Sloane's heart pounded as she realized what the hell was happening, running and watching as Steve was absolutely freaking out, screaming Sloane's name, Lucas was screaming for Sloane, holding Max as she turned away, simply unable to look after her own encounter with the monster-man. Robin and Nancy were screaming too, but what really caught Sloane's attention was Eddie.
Eddie was sobbing, on his knees, screaming for Sloane and trying to grab at her legs, failing miserably.
Come on, she thought, legs aching as she reached the final yard of Vecna's lair-world-hell-whatchamacallit.
And she jumped.
Sloane choked for air as the sun shining through the trees blinded her, causing her eyes to flinch as she started falling, falling, falling...
"Fuck!" She screamed, slamming into the ground with a hard thud. She was sure she broke her tailbone. She immediately started crying as Steve and Eddie's arms snaked around her. If she was still in the little trance Vecna put her in, Sloane surely would've rolled her eyes at herself, watching as she struggled to decide who's arms to snuggle up in more.
Steve — her best friend, her brother, the one who knew exactly the song to pull her out of the trance.
Eddie — the situation she couldn't stay away from, who put a smile on her face like none other, that thought Careless Whisper and George Michael on the sax would save her.
She squeezed her eyes shut, grabbing onto Eddie's shoulders as he ran his hand through her hair, whispering his presence haphazardly into her hair that smelt like apples and summer.
Maybe careless whispers would save her, after all.