(y/n) - your name

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The group huddled together in hushed whispers in the living room, going over everything Nancy had told them about the visions Vecna made her see. "It's not real... right?" Steve asks warily.

"Not yet." Nancy whispers. "But there... there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked likethe 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." the group took in the news, fear washing over them. Billy sat on the couch, his head in his hands when he heard this, not knowing how to feel about the impending disaster that was about to wreck their lives. He looks up at his sister who leaned against a wall, knowing that he needed to take her back to California but he needed to save (y/n) first.

"Four chimes." Max mumbles out and everyone looks at her. "Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly." 

"I heard them too." Nancy says.

"He's been telling us his planthis whole time." Max realises

"Four kills. Four gates. End of the world." Lucas rambles on, hoping that it wasn't true.

"If that's true... he's only one kill away." Dustin says.

"But what about (y/n)? Why her? Why try to kill her if he only needs Max?" Robin asks, Billy glaring at her. "I'm just saying!" she raises her hands in defence.

"Buckley's right. What does he want with (y/n)?" Eddie says.

"Her case is different... I don't think Vecna knew about her or was even targeting her until-"

"-until he first saw her in the Upside Down." Billy cuts off Dustin. "I heard him ask her who she was and how she got to the Upside Down when I went to save her after getting Max out. He didn't know who she was until then."

"And she's connected to the Mindflayer. We don't know how but she is." Dustin pipes up. "She said there might be a piece of it inside her that's keeping her alive."

"That would explain how she was having the same but different episodes like Max." Lucas says. "ANd the fact that she acts like a conduit."

"But why does the fucking undead jackass want her now!?" Billy hisses out.

"Maybe as an extra kill but now..." everyone looks up the stairs as Nancy trails off. "I think he's using her now to be a spy."

"Do you think he knows that we know?" Steve asks.

"You don't think she's eavesdropping on us now is she!?" Eddie gasps lightly, slapping his hands over his mouth. 

"I'll go check on her." Billy volunteers, the group nodding and they quickly talk about trying to reach the Byers in Lenora but not reaching them, Nancy thinking that this was all connected somehow. 

Billy walks to their shared bedroom, silently opening the door to see his love still sleeping on the bed. Well, what looked like his love but wasn't actually her. He stood by the doorway, watching with a soft gaze at the way she curled around the pillow she hugged to her chest like she always does, the way she nuzzled against the blanket. He fooled himself into thinking for that moment, it truly was (y/n) who was sleeping soundly. He wanted to walk over to her and brush her hair away to see her face clearly, to see her beautiful doe eyes filled with life, to see her pink lips send a soft smile his way.

Billy doesn't notice Eddie walking up the steps silently, stopping halfway to see him smile as he stared at (y/n) lovingly. Eddie saw how in love Billy was with her, saw the way his eyes held warmth for the girl and the soft smile on his face when he looked at her. Anyone could tell how in love he was from miles away.

"Hargove." Eddie calls out softly and the boy glares at him as he stood on the steps.

"What." he snaps.

"We're making a game plan to go back to the Upside Down." Eddie whispers and Billy nods, closing the door on (y/n) who he thought was asleep but didn't catch her eyes being wide open.

"Are you crazy!? We barely made it out alive!" Steve exclaims.

"Yeah, because we weren't prepared. But this time, we will be.We'll get weapons and protection. We'll go through the gate,we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him." Nancy says.

"Or he'll kill us. The only reason you survivedis because he wanted you to. He's not scared of us!" Steve argues back.

"And for good reason. We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now?"

"Vecna. Stop fighting over the stupid name." Billy hisses out as he comes back to the living room with Eddie.

We've learned something newabout Vecna. He's a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murderingversion of her with really bad skin. But my... my point is, he's super powerful. Could turn us inside out with a snapof his fingers. It's not a fair fight." Robin rambles on quickly spewing words none stop until she covers her mouth.

"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 explains.

"Such as?" Billy pipes up and Dustin looks at him.

"When El remote-travels, she goes intothis sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna."

"That would explainwhat he was doing in that attic." Lucas realises.

"Exactly. When he attacks his next victim, I'll bet you he's back in that attic,physical body defenseless."

"Defenseless?" Steve scoffs, pointing to his neck.

"Are you forgetting about the fucking army of bats we just barely survived from?" Billy answers back.

"True. We'll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow."

"And, uh, how do we do that, exactly?" Eddie asks Dustin.

"No idea. But once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance. It'll be like slaying sleeping Draculain his coffin."

"That all sounds good in theory, but there is no patternto Vecna's killings. Not one that I can decipher. We don't knowwhen he's going to attack next. Don't even know who he's going to attack-"

"-yeah, we do." Max cuts off Robin and everyone looks at the redhead. "I can still feel him. "I'm still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me."

"Max, you are not acting as the fucking bait!" Billy snaps, grabbing her shoulders while lucas agrees with her brother.

"Billy, I survived before. I can survive again."

"Max no-"

"-I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic." She begs her brother and he frowns at her, knowing he couldn't change her mind. "I honestly don't carehow you put this asshole in his grave. Just... whatever it is... whatever you do... try not to miss."

"You are hard-headed and stubborn you little shit..." Billy sighs out, patting Max's head before going off to the cupboard on the stairs and chucking the guns stored in there to the group. "We need more weapons if we're going to take down this asshole."

"I know exactly where we can go!" Eddie exclaims, jumping up to grab the address book, flipping the pages before setting it down on the table with the group surrounding him. "Check this out. The War Zone. I've been there once. It's huge. They got everything you need for, uh... well, killing things, basically."

"You think fake Rambo hasenough guns there? Is that a grenade?I mean, how is any of this legal!?" Robin exclaims.

"Well as (y/n) would say, this is America." the group says knowing she would've said this.

"I don't disagree with her." Eddie shrugs. 

"How'd you know about this place Munson?" Billy asks with a raised brow and the metalhead looks at him with wide eyes.

"My uncle...? Anyway, this... this place is just far enoughoutside of Hawkins." Eddie quickly changes the subject. "As long as we steer clear of main roads, we oughta be able to avoid copsand, uh, angry hicks."

"If we're trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn't goto some store called the War Zone." Erica pipes with sarcasm, rolling her eyes.

"Normally, I'd agree,but we need the weapons." Nancy says. "So I think it's worth the risk."

"What about (y/n)?" Eddie asks, sitting back on the couch. "Whoever it is upstairs, we can't bring them along right? Like they will tell Vecna our plans and then we'll be screwed."

"But we also can't let him know that we know that it's not actually (y/n)..." Nancy mumbles out. "She-he-(y/n) will get suspicious if we just leave her here."

"But if we do, what can she do? Right?" Lucas asks and Dustin and Nancy weigh out the pros and cons.

"We'll tie her up-"

"-keep your grubby hands off her-"

"-Billy, your girlfriend isn't your girlfriend! I get you you're protective but for fucks sake we need to keep her here!" Dustin snaps back, Billy glaring at the kid.

"Hargrove, he's right." Robin says carefully.

"You wouldn't let them hurt me, would you love?" the group freezes when they hear (y/n)'s voice, cursing beneath their breath when she steps out from behind the wall.