*ೃ༄𝐒𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍
"Steve says you need to hurry!"
Erica Sinclair announced as she hurried into Eddie's bedroom where everyone was focusing on finding cassettes that would snap Nancy out of her trance-like state. As Magdalena kept her spot on the floor, she continued going through Eddie's collection. Magdalena decided that he had some great music in his possession, though none of them was Nancy's genre. The brunette kept filing through the music at rapid speed, like a professional banker counting stacks of money.
Finding nothing of substance, Magdalena rubbed her eyes in frustration as the anxiety around the room began to grow exponentially. Everyone was talking at once and the girl swore her head was about to implode from the audible commotion. Just before Magdalena could start looking through a totally different group of cassettes, Lulu came scurrying into the room with a look of expectancy on her face. The raven-haired girl hoped someone found a good enough song for Nancy, but when she witnessed the chaos between everyone her expression took on a more caring one.
"Okay, okay. Let me try and help. What do you guys want?"
Lulu questioned, looking around the room in hopes of receiving an answer from someone—anyone, to be honest. As her head darted around, her short but voluminous hair bounced along with each minor movement. Lulu gained many deer-in-the-headlight looks from the kids before they went back to hurriedly scavenging through Eddie's stuff. The room was a mess. More of a mess than usual actually. Magdalena's fists clenched, her temper rising when she still hadn't come across anything that would suit Nancy Wheeler's taste in music. Lulu's eyes landed on her favorite brunette right at the start of a mental breakdown, but there was no time to console Magdalena because Robin captured Lulu's attention when full-on screaming at her with an alarming tone:
"Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music! We need music!"
The demand was meant for Lulu, although when Eddie caught wind of it, the guy couldn't help but feel somewhat offended about his music taste being sort of questioned by everyone in the room. Between everyone still in search of songs that would help Nancy escape from her mental hellscape and Magdalena going through a whole dilemma on the floor about whether or not to scream into her palms about being unsuccessful, Eddie's frustrations were through the roof. A contributing factor to this frustration came from freshmen digging through his belongings unapologetically. And the other half of those frustrations came from being in another panic-filled situation. The poor guy didn't do so well under stress.
"This is music!"
Eddie abruptly yelled out his reply without missing a beat. Lulu's widened eyes said it all. The raven-haired girl couldn't take the stressful atmosphere in the room and decided to run out to report back to Steve about what was going on. Meanwhile, all Magdalena could do was sigh to herself as she stared down at all the rejected cassettes laying on the ground before her. They either consisted of rock or metal. Nothing else. Magdalena wasn't going to knock Eddie's music taste, especially since the guy never prepared for something like this to take place. In an instant, before Magdalena could even take a full breath, Lulu came back to the room and informed everyone that Steve really needed them to pick up the pace. As if on cue, the whole room chorused an aggressive and tense "We know!"
"Um, I don't know if you've noticed, but Nancy doesn't seem like the type of chick to enjoy Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden on a daily basis. Or at all for that matter."
Magdalena reminded Eddie as she held up a cassette and sarcastically waved it around with a pointed look on her face. Eddie ran a hand through his hair nervously and began pacing—as if that would solve anything. The brunette chewed on her lower lip in discontent, her nail tapping against the cover of the cassette as she attempted to come up with something very soon.
The fast-paced happenings in the room jumbled up Magdalena's mind aptly, however, she wasn't giving up or letting the disarray get the best of her. With the freshmen all arguing amongst themselves, Erica rolling her eyes heavily, Robin and Eddie about to have double panic attacks, Lulu had to be the one to offer a suggestion. And she did. Though it may not have been too ideal, she was doing her best with what she had. There was no pop-y music available so she thought of the next best thing.
"I say we start singing Carole King songs acapella style. There's nothing useful here. It's all rock music and more rock music. Holy shit, Eddie. Diversity much? I'm embarrassed for you."
Lulu still managed to criticize Eddie as she turned to him with hands on her hips and a boatload of attitude dripping off her stance alone. Magdalena really felt like smashing her own head into the wall when an all-out screaming match broke out between Lulu and Eddie about what was good music and what wasn't. They couldn't have picked a worse time to argue over Eddie's collection of music. Nancy was in a serious predicament and Magdalena's two favorite idiots chose to bicker in the meanwhile.
Thankfully, the brunette's keen ears picked up Steve's voice over all the racket, and with that, Magdalena stood up urgently and raced back to the portal on the ceiling. Her breathing decreased tremendously as she watched Nancy slowly regain consciousness. When the two girls glanced at each other, Nancy was pleased to find Magdalena blessing her with a heartfelt half-smile. The May girl hadn't given her one of those since their tutoring sessions and Nancy found it beyond comforting especially after breaking free of her previous mental cage.
"You're okay, Nancy. We'll make sure you're okay. C'mon, I'll help you out of there. The mattress isn't too comfortable. Almost broke my back on the damn thing."
Magdalene offered a lame joke to ease Nancy's racing mind as she watched the Wheeler girl stand up with shaking knees and crazed eyes. Steve turned to Nancy, silently questioning her if she was ready to start climbing up, and when he received an apprehensive nod from her, the guy gestured at the makeshift rope and stood beside it just in case Nancy didn't have enough energy to make it on the first try. Magdalena stood on the mattress with a hand held upwards for Nancy as she watched her ex-tutor steadily climb further and further toward the hole in the ceiling. The brunette made sure to tightly grip Nancy's hand when the older girl was close enough and in a split second, Nancy fell back into the normal Hawkins—the place that didn't contain any flesh-eating bats.
Magdalena awkwardly caught Nancy with her arms secured around her waist and soon enough the young witch was helping Nancy stand on her own two feet once again. And in that exact moment, everyone came running out of Eddie's bedroom, pushing and shoving—overly eager to catch a glimpse of the scene and make sure they were actually seeing what they were seeing. Lulu—being the group's unofficial cheerleader of sorts—clapped her hands ecstatically and ran over to Nancy, firing questions at her about her well-being and what happened. Magdalena led Nancy away from the group gathering around them so she wouldn't get overwhelmed. All would be answered soon enough if it was up to Nancy Wheeler's upfront nature.
✧･ﾟ:
Never had Magdalena been so in tune with a serious conversation like right now. The rebellious side of her always told her to interrupt or stray from the topic, but not this time. Settled in the living room within Eddie's trailer, the Mystery Gang Rejects were captivated by all the traumatizing shit Nancy had to endure all because of Vecna's incredibly strong hold over her. The way Nancy recalled everything—with a few pauses when the girl found it too difficult to speak—she witnessed left everyone speechless:
"He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this... giant creature with... a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then... he showed me my mom. And Holly. Mike. And they... they were all..."
"Okay, but... he's just trying to scare you, Nance. Right? I mean... I mean, it's not real."
Steve suggested immediately after Nancy finished her monologue filled with scenes that were reminiscent of the end of the world—Judgement Day would be coming around sooner than they all suspected. Magdalena stood beside Max, one of her arms wrapped around the redhead's shoulder protectively all while the witchy brunette gnawed on the nails on her unoccupied hand. She was antsy. Granted so was everyone in the room, but Magdalena seemed to be more on edge than everyone else.
For once in her life, insecurities had caught up to her about possibly not having enough magical powers to protect the people she cared for. Max, Eddie, Lulu, her dad, and the list went on. Magdalena had already determined that she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she had to endure losing someone else. She knew she'd lose it and she'd have to be unceremoniously locked away in a mental hospital for good. The girl barely made it through the summer—her mental health was at an all-time low. It was record-breaking actually. Magdalena knew she couldn't go through that again.
"He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie's trailer, but... they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home."
Nancy's words sent Magdalena May's head into a spiraling frenzy. The brunette became visibly sick to her stomach while a cold chill swept over her fatigued figure. Leaving Max's side abruptly, Magdalena and Eddie looked at each other for about a second before the girl seemingly stumbled out of the room, in search of air that wasn't so densely packed with tension. Everyone noticed Magdalena's unforeseen exit except no one dared follow after her. She needed space. The girl adored her constant loner ways which is why no one stood up to go after Magdalena. No one aside from Lulu since the raven-haired girl knew Magdalena better than herself.
Lulu's quick strides across the living room were acknowledged in silence and strangely, everyone felt a sudden emptiness without the two girls present. Still, the conversation had to continue and so it did. But there was no conversation happening between the two friends when Lulu came across Magdalena leaning against a nearby wall, breathing heavily and pretty much on the verge of puking. Her gemstone eyes remained closed as her head was tilted downwards towards the ground, desperately trying not to throw up after digesting Nancy's previous words. Magdalena felt a presence next to her though she refused to open her eyes. Then a soft, warm hand took hers and soothingly rubbed the top of her hand. Lulu's soft words prompting her to calm down fluttered into Magdalena's ears and managed to ease the miserable feeling inside of her stomach. Lulu Hayashi was a Godsend.
She always had been and Magdalena always finalized that she had never been deserving of such a true friend. Choosing to follow Lulu's instructions, Magdalena opened her eyes and waited for them to adjust to the light. Once her blurry vision dissipated, Magdalena got to thinking. Thinking about everything Nancy spoke of was real and not just some April Fool's joke during March. The brunette once again told herself that she'd have only one opportunity to save everyone who she held close to her heart. Then images of her dad appeared in her mind. Marion May didn't know about any of this. He was going about his days, totally oblivious to these supernatural happenings. The man just painted and watched television when he was taking a break from painting.
Magdalena worried for him in a completely different sense than everyone else. The fact that her dad didn't know what to expect and prepare for left Magdalena feeling queasy about possibly losing her dad—the greatest father figure she could possibly ask for. After seeing that Magdalena was no longer breathing so heavily, Lulu took her chance to ask if they could head back to the living room. With a small nod of approval from the brunette, Lulu looped her arm around Magdalena's, and the two seniors gradually began making their way back to everyone.
Their timing was not great though because the first thing Magdalena heard was Nancy and her fucked up proposition of going back into the Upside Down. Suddenly recovering from her anxiety-induced daze, Magdalena made her grand entrance known in the bluntest way possible. The brunette—just like everyone else—wasn't happy with this proposed arrangement, but per usual, Magdalena's objection appeared to be the most menacing.
"You are totally off your fucking rocker, Wheeler! None of you and I mean none of you are gonna drag me back into that place. The Upside Down hates my fucking guts, alright? I felt that dimension eating my body from the inside out when I was there. That place doesn't like me and my magical witchy powers. It's not happening."
Magdalena's overly powerful eyes were domineering especially when she was directly addressing Nancy and the Wheeler girl had to endure being under the painful inspection of Magdalena's faded green irises. Drops of dried blood were still present on the lower half of her face trailing all the way down her neck—in essence, it was a great hint for Nancy to not fuck with the brunette when she disagreed with something, but Nancy couldn't possibly let Magdalena disagree with this.
Everyone was counting on having a large group to overpower the supernatural forces, especially when one of those people in the group was an actual witch by blood. So as much as Nancy was dreading to keep staring into Magdalena May's brutal eyes, she had to do it. Lulu pulled Magdalena back, reminding everyone of a dog owner dealing with their aggressive canine. The brunette backed off with an ever-growing fire still burning in her soul, but with resentful 'fuck' she began picking at her nails.
That's when Magdalena realized she was going back into her own type of Hell—she knew instantly when Nancy gave her a pleading look resembling a little kid's. Lulu rubbed Magdalena's upper arm supportively while the brunette kept taking immense breaths and then exhaled them just as heavily. Magdalena's ears perked up when Nancy offered the group an ultimatum: obtaining weapons. Magdalena didn't mean to be a pessimist, but she highly doubted that guns and knives would be enough to slay a demonic being. And as if she read Magdalena's mind, Robin decided to finally voice her opinion about the situation:
"He's a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin. But my... my point is, he's super powerful. Could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It's not a fair fight."
Magdalena completely agreed with this and wondered how in the world they were ever going to succeed and win this...this...whatever this was. A supernatural turf war maybe? Who fucking knew. All Magdalena knew was that she—a witch with many spells at her disposal inside her grandmother's grimoire—wouldn't be able to defeat Vecna. He was just too powerful for her. Though Magdalena still had to retrieve the spell book that she had come across many times in the past. The girl had always believed her grandmother had an obsession with witchcraft and nothing more. After connecting the dots, Magdalena noted that those were actual spells. Still, she wasn't ready.
"Then why fight fair? You're right. He's like Eleven. But that gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven's strengths. And weaknesses."
Dustin reminded the group and this caused Magdalena to shift her eyes up at the little genius standing before her. Then the kid began elaborating on what he meant by Eleven having weaknesses. Magdalena hadn't known Eleven for as long as the majority of people in the room, but Max had spoken plenty about her superpowers and how she achieved these difficult tasks. As Dustin continued speaking, it was all starting to make sense...kind of. Well, the effort to create a valuable plan was there but as Steve mentioned, the bats were still a very real danger. Dustin, however, didn't let that slight thing deter any part of his plans even though some details were missing from this upcoming mission. Magdalena stood on the sideline in the meanwhile watching the half-baked ideas be pieced together slowly.
"I don't know about you, but I'm really wishing El was here right now. Defeating an inter-dimensional demon without any mind power-y help wasn't on my Spring break to-do list."
Lulu leaned in to whisper her long-winded sentence into Magdalena's ear. The brunette gaining this information couldn't stop herself from nodding with consensus. From the momentary time Magdalena got to spend with Eleven, the brunette had nothing against the younger girl. In fact, Magdalena wished she could've gotten to know Eleven before she moved away with the Byers family. Still, whenever Max had recounted the "awesome shit"—stated oh so eloquently by the redhead—that Eleven had done, Magdalena could only smile at how the gifted young girl was so devoted to saving her friends. Lulu felt the exact same about Eleven. The raven-haired beauty adored the young girl so much so that Lulu had been sketching clothing designs just for Eleven in hopes that she would return to Hawkins sometime in the near future to visit. Everyone needed Eleven, but it seemed the universe disregarded that need.
"We don't know when he's going to attack next. Don't even know who he's going to attack."
Robin replied to Dustin's previous words which he seemed insanely proud of. Magdalena was going to open her mouth and verbally agree with Robin this time around, but Max was just faster by a second. All eyes were on the redhead, but she didn't seem to be bothered by that. She had something to get off her chest. Magdalena saw that look in Max's eyes. She'd had to deal with that look before when Max was having problems with school. What really made Magdalena's heart thump was Max admitting to willingly becoming bait for Vecna. The brunette watched Lucas voice his concerns about this revelation and Magdalena was grateful for that. But the redhead wasn't backing down from her original plans and persistence was fantastic, just not right now.
"I survived before. I can survive again. I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off. Stab him in the heart. Blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up. I honestly don't care how you put this asshоlе in his grave. Just...whatever it is...whatever you do...try not to miss."
Magdalena May felt her heart break in two when Max uttered these terrible things. Leaving Lulu's light hold, the brunette walked right up to Max and just looked down at her a bit. There wasn't that much of a height difference between them, but Magdalena was still just a smidge taller. Seconds passed, but no words were exchanged between the two of them. The room watched with high levels of intrigue about what would take place. The young witch was formulating her words inside her head and tried to make them enough to soothe her favorite freshman's racing head slightly. Max looked at Magdalena's frighteningly serious green eyes, while Magdalena stared into Max's stubborn yet scared blue ones. It was an awful version of a staring contest and the anticipation was getting to the redheaded girl. Unfortunately, before she could continue arguing why she was sacrificing herself and make Magdalena understand, the brunette let her inner monologue be known:
"Listen to me, Gingersnap. I swear on my life that I'm gonna do everything in my power to get rid of this curse for you. You're gonna be okay. We're all going to be okay. I'm not losing you and you're not losing me. Promise."
After processing this, Max still stood there, watching Magdalena. But without any response from the redhead, she wrapped her arms around Magdalena's middle and buried the side of her face into the brunette's filthy halter top which no longer held its bright red color and had turned into an ugly maroon-ish brown. In turn, Magdalena cradled Max's head with one hand and rubbed circles on her back with the other.
Magdalena May had her work cut out for her and she was truly petrified about the outcome.
✧･ﾟ:
With Lulu's petite hands planted on her ass, Magdalena not so gracefully climbed through the back window of the RV that belonged to some random people living in the trailer park. Flopping onto the cushioned seating area, the wind got knocked out of Magdalena when Lulu decided to enter through the window next and landed right on her best friend's back. The raven-haired girl sheepishly apologized as she climbed off her friend, letting Magdalena take a much-needed breath. After situating themselves, the two girls began assisting everyone else with climbing into the vehicle while Eddie got to work up front.
Magdalena still couldn't believe that one, they were stealing someone's property, and two, actually going to stock up on weapons in hopes of defeating a demon with abilities beyond their comprehension. Though it was collectively agreed upon that the weapons would be useful for their great big plan. After everyone had made it, Steve walked over to the driver's seat and watched as Eddie inspected the wires underneath the wheel. Magdalena nosily followed, peering over Steve's shoulder observantly while pursing her lips as she took in the scene. Steve's wary question left Magdalena buzzing with curiosity as well:
"Where'd you learn how to do this?"
"Well, when the other dads were teaching their kids how to fish or play ball, my old man was teaching me how to hot-wire. Now, I swore to myself I wouldn't wind up like he did, but now I'm wanted for murder, and soon, grand theft auto. So, uh, I'm really living up to that Munson name."
Eddie explained all while cutting a couple of wires and then doing whatever it is that needed to be done in order to hot wire the RV. Magdalena stood there in awe, taking in the sight of a guy working so quickly and efficiently all while two people were pretty much breathing down his neck. Even Magdalena noted that had she been in Eddie's position with a whole crowd of people sitting behind him, she would've had a complete meltdown.
"I don't know about you, Harrington, but that was beyond hot."
Magdalena's unexpected declaration made Steve jump partially and along with that, the brunette also gained a strange look from him. The girl was being totally serious though. For some reason seeing Eddie commit an actual minor crime was pretty wild and breathtaking. Magdalena felt like she was on top of the world and she wasn't even the one to hot wire the damn vehicle. Then it was Magdalena's turn to jump when she heard Robin's voice in her ear with a suggestion meant for Eddie in which she told him to let someone else drive. Steve just so happened to be the lucky guy in charge of getting the gang from place to place.
Magdalena grabbed Eddie's hand and dragged him out of the driver's seat, leading him to one of the areas in the back. And in a flash of perfume and perfect hair, Lulu dashed over to the passenger seat so she could sit next to the guy she'd been pining over for ages. With that, they were on the road. Magdalena and Eddie sat down next to each other and took a breath in sync. The brunette suddenly realized that she had to get her grandmother's book, so with a hasty request, Magdalena told Steve where to go first:
"Five-minute pit stop at my house, please! I need to get granny's spell book. And more tea lights...and more matches. Okay, thanks!"
Steve agreed but not without sighing about having to drive more than he intended to. Then the atmosphere in the RV transpired into a silent one minus the soft murmurs of random conversation. It was then that Eddie captured Magdalena's attention with a smile and almost made her chuckle with his words. Actually, their short conversation was pretty much the best part of Magdalena's day.
"I still can't believe you're magical. Do you know how cool that is? I'm spending time with a girl who's a literal witch. That's, like, unheard of and probably something I would've wished for in middle school. It kinda makes me wanna shout that shit from the rooftops and make everyone jealous."
"Don't do that. Knowing this town they'll burn me at the stake for being a spellcasting weirdo. They're too normal to get it."
"I'm glad I'm strange enough to get it. Freaks have to stick together, Magdalena May. Just keep that in mind 'cause it'll help you stay true to yourself. Sounds cliché, but I'm not making it up. I'm talking from experience."
With the sound of the RV's engine beginning to lull her into a deep sleep, Magdalena decided to do something for herself and rest her eyes. But only for a short while. The brunette leaned her head against Eddie's and waited for her brain to give up on contemplation for the first time in a while. The telltale thumps of a steady heartbeat played like a melody for Magdalena which put her in a state of serenity—a place where nothing could go wrong and everyone was alright. A few more bumps in the road later, Magdalena May was out cold with soft snores escaping her mouth. Eddie seemed to find it sweet.
He also deemed himself insanely chivalrous for watching over Magdalena as she slept. She deserved the rest considering it had been days since she'd gotten a proper nine hours of sleep. And as Magdalena dissolved into her dream-like state, Eddie could only silently marvel at how uncharacteristically innocent the brunette looked. Sometimes her eyelashes would flutter and she'd take an awkward breath, but even so, Magdalena was an absolute vision reminding Eddie of some portrait with immense detail. However, the guy was thankful that Magdalena was real and not just some art on a canvas. But in Magdalena's mind, there was no awareness of Eddie glancing at her sometimes. In fact, there was no awareness of anything.
She didn't even dream vivid images, rather, the girl was in the midst of recovering from sleep deprivation. Any and all recognition of time slipped out the imaginary window for Magdalena and before she knew it, Eddie was lovingly shaking her awake and whispering in her ear that they had made it to her home in one piece. The brunette had difficulty getting her eyes adjusted to the sudden light seeping in through the windows of the RV, but the impatience of Dustin was the only motivation Magdalena needed to get herself together and come face-to-face with her dad again. She despised that her dear father would have to bear witness to her apocalyptic appearance yet again and try to determine why his daughter looked like she had just crawled out of a grave. But there wasn't enough time to pick out a new outfit. Magdalena didn't need any new clothes on her body to go back into a whole other dimension.
"Want me to come in with you?"
Eddie's offer was totally considerate and Magdalena—not being in the correct state of mind—mulled the question over before ultimately rejecting it. Though the last thing she wanted to do was reject it. Eddie and her dad liked each other's company, but now wasn't the right time for them to have a bonding session over an ice-cold beer.
"The irresponsible side of me is saying yes, but for your safety, I'm gonna say hell no. Dad loves you, but it's the nosy neighbors I'm worried about. I'll be quick. And you be good. Behave yourself."
"You know I can't promise anything like that. I've been a proud troublemaker since birth. You'll learn to appreciate it."
Eddie received an eye roll from Magdalena before she hurried out of the RV and into her house. While alone, Eddie Munson came to terms with how much he truly cared for Magdalena. Well, he'd already thought about it, but today those feelings multiplied. He loved that little witch.
✧･ﾟ:
Sitting next to Lulu in the tall grass, Magdalena kept her attention solely on going through Evelyn May's grimoire and memorizing the variety of spells along with their candle arrangements. Lucky for her, the girl's grandmother had neatly recorded in writing all the steps to achieve every spell. Flipping through the pages and taking in the information left Magdalena feeling insecure, but she knew it was necessary to know all this. The group as a collective unanimously agreed on having Magdalena focus on studying the spell book rather than assist them with the crafting or modification of weapons for their upcoming battle in the Upside Down.
As a result of this, on occasion, Magdalena would hear a groan or a discontent sigh escape Lulu's mouth when the raven-haired girl had a hard time with putting together homemade smoke bombs—which were Lulu's own idea and according to her, they would be used as distractions if need be. Each time Magdalena heard her friend get mad at herself about messing up some part of the smoke bomb, the brunette willingly offered to help, but Lulu denied it and instructed Magdalena to keep reading the grimoire. So she did. Magdalena kept on reading and in between her reading, she thought back to that conversation with her dad when she strolled into her home looking like a catatonic zombie:
"Darling girl, what happened to you? Is that blood? Whose blood is that? Are you okay? Talk to me. I can't help you otherwise."
"I'm fine. Perfectly fine. I just—I need grandma's grimoire. It's urgent, y'know? I don't have a lot of time. I have a crowd of freshmen waiting for me outside so I kinda need to hurry."
"'Grimoire,' huh? You're finally calling it by its name. Finally figured it out I see."
"After what you told me before about grandma bringing tea lights and candles with her in her younger years, it really wasn't hard to figure it out."
"Magdalena, listen closely. Whatever it is you're planning on doing, please be careful. I trust you to make the right decisions in every situation. Don't let impulses take over. I know that's what tends to happen when you wanna do things your way, but I know as well as you do that this is serious. Get your head in order and take a breath before you do anything you might regret. Try to ignore those urges to against orders. I need you to be okay. Physically and mentally. I love you more than I can ever express and I wanna see my daughter alive and well."
"Gee, old man. Why'd you have to get so sappy on me? I'm gonna stick to what I have to do. I promise. Oh and, I know I don't say it much but I love you too. Take care of yourself."
"Will do. You do the same. And before I forget, I'm calling grandma about this. She needs to know that her only grandchild inherited these abilities."
"Alright, dad. You do that."
"It's better if you hear it from me first, but, babe, you might've just picked the nerdiest guy in all of Hawkins to fool around with, but—yes, there's more. But I totally approve of whatever you two have going on. Total nerd or not, Eddie has that romantic sparkle in his eyes whenever he looks at you. That look is irreplaceable and genuine. It's total romance movie material. I can tell a match made in Heaven when I see one."
The sweet sound of Lulu speaking snapped Magdalena out of her daydream and the brunette followed her friend's hand gesturing at the scene in the field in front of the two of them. The brunette followed the direction of Lulu's finger and came upon an image of Eddie and Dustin behaving like true nerds as they pretended to be in a game of Dungeons and Dragons or something of the sort. Magdalena snorted at the sight and shook her head with a smile when Eddie nearly tackled the freshman to the ground. Her green eyes looked back down at the grimoire in her lap rather than continuing to watch Dustin and Eddie play around in the grass. Tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear, Magdalena took in Lulu's words which held the utmost truth about Eddie Munson. Though he wore the label he got proudly and ignored what others thought about him. It was pretty admirable and something that most of the population had difficulty with.
"He's a total fucking nerd. You're right. It's a redeeming quality though. There's something so...I don't know, I guess it's just comforting to be around someone who isn't afraid to express every sense of themselves. We can share everything with each other. It's nice. His taste in music isn't bad either."
"I'm glad you're getting a second chance at happiness, Magdalena. It's been a while since I've seen that shine in your pretty eyes. Now I can sleep well knowing that my best friend is feeling like herself again. Well, y'know, I'll sleep normally after we kill this demon thing, but you being happy again is putting me one step closer to a nicer sleep. I'm ecstatic about my friend getting thrown back into the many temptations of young love."
Lulu dreamily stated while she continued her repeated method of securing the makeshift smoke bomb together with a piece of spare fabric she had ripped off from the hem of her blouse. Magdalena could only chuckle at how her dear friend sounded like some character from a romance novel—so optimistic and excited to speak about love. The brunette's timing was incredible because when she looked over at Lulu, her deep brown eyes were set straight on Steve. Lulu couldn't have been more obvious about falling completely head over heels for the guy. Magdalena—even though Steve had been pretty standoff-ish with her—still saw that he had a good heart underneath all that hair and rich boy exterior.
"Ugh, barf. Don't be so poetic. But speaking of young love...you and Harrington. What's going on there? I know him and I haven't been on the best of terms, but if he treats you right then I can learn to live with him. Tell me about him. Elaborate on how he makes you feel, Lu."
Magdalena closed the book in her hand whilst urging her friend to speak about Steve and what he had to offer. She and Lulu had plenty to catch up on considering they had been separated for so long. Lulu stopped preparing her smoke bomb, turning to Magdalena and greeting her best friend with a typical lovesick blush. Then she bit her lip thinking about Steve even though he was just a few feet away speaking with Robin. Words were jumbling inside of Lulu's head since she just had so much to say about Steve Harrington, but Magdalena's reassurance and reminder to talk slowly and gather her thoughts made it a billion times easier for Lulu to talk about her lover boy. And boy, was she in love with the subject matter:
"Where do I even begin? We talked after you decided to stay at the boat house with Eddie and I guess we both had this epiphany that we're both unsure of what to do with our lives. And in that regard, we sort of are disappointments to our parents. But, yeah, we have that in common. I told him about my dream of wanting to design clothes for celebrities and he found that really cool. He said that if he ever got famous for something then he'd love for me to be his designer. He's an idiot for sure, but that's his appeal I think. We kissed, like, three—four times, that's about all we had time for. These past few days haven't been easy on any of us. But, hey, Steve still promised me a date after this was all over. Then we might even go out of state after my graduation just to see the country or something. I don't know, I guess I've always wanted to see a beach up close and maybe that'll be possible soon. It's lame, I know, but a small-town girl can dream."
"It's not lame at all, Lu. Your dream is to see a beach and get away from Hawkins. I'm pretty sure that's what most of us wanna do. I'm planning on going down to Frank's and staying there for as long as I can. I also wanna take Eddie, but he doesn't know about those plans yet. We haven't had time to sit down and talk about the future, but we're getting out of here sooner or later. This town, for the past three years, has given us nothing but trouble, destruction, and death. I don't know how much longer I can exist in a hurricane of heartache. Waking up each day makes me realize just how shitty things are."
Magdalena's intention wasn't to make the mood depressing. She was merely expressing repressed feelings toward her hometown. Nothing would ever be the same even if things suddenly went back to normal. Those past deaths would still be present in the back of everybody's mind. The brunette desperately needed to make her escape. Though before Magdalena could fall down a pit of introspection, Eddie's voice rang out across the field which effectively captured the gang's attention even if his words were only meant for Magdalena May.
"Maiden Magdalena the Magical! I'm here to tell you that you're the hottest girl on this planet! Your beauty is radiating all the way over here and you should know that I'm willing to fight for your never-ending gratitude and respect forever!"
Eddie yelled into the fresh air, pointing at Magdalena confidently. All eyes were trained on the brunette—not just Eddie's this time—and for whatever reason, she felt so reluctant to do anything. A faint red hue gradually appeared across the girl's cheeks and for once Magdalena felt speechless. Eddie's theatrics embarrassed her beyond belief, but she also enjoyed it.
In return for his proclamation, Eddie received an unfeigned wink from the girl of his dreams which he seemed genuinely happy with. Lulu choked back a laugh at what she had just witnessed not even a minute ago. It wasn't one of those mean-spirited laughs either. Lulu simply found Magdalena and Eddie's relationship to be so fresh and new and original. They were two people from different worlds, but they had more in common than they realized.
"Point proven. Eddie Munson is a total fucking nerd. Anything to add to that, Maiden Magdalena the Magical?"
"I completely resent that nickname, but you're not wrong. He's a nerd. But he's my nerd."
Magdalena was certainly thrilled to say that.