𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞
𝘽𝙚 𝙍𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙐𝙥 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙍𝙤𝙖𝙙, 𝘽𝙚
𝙍𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙐𝙥 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙃𝙞𝙡𝙡 . . .

The group had stayed the night over at the Wheeler's after returning from the school, much to Mr. Wheeler's dismay. Everyone was worried sick about Max and wanted to keep a close eye on her, but they were also worried about each other, deciding it would be best not to split up. They were huddled around, down in the basement, reading the articles Robin and Nancy had brought back from the archives of the town library.

"Be honest... do you guy's understand any of this?"

Steve spoke up as he paced around the room, clutching one of the articles. Willow looked up from her spot on the couch next to her brother, sending her friend a soft smile. He wasn't the brightest of the bunch, and Willow was often the one that ended up explaining things to him, for his sake and for the sake of everyone else's sanity. Whereas Steve was the total Mom of the group, Willow was definitely the Crystal Aunt that would usually say incoherent, dreamy words, but from time to time give wise advice.

"No-"

"Pretty straightforward."

Dustin interrupted Lucas who had started agreeing with the older boy, earning him an incredulous look from both Sinclair and Harrington.

"Oh, straightforward, really?"

Steve retorted sarcastically, Dustin shaking his head and sitting up as he started to explain what they had gathered so far.

"What's confusing to you? So far, everyone Vecna has cursed has died, except for this old Victor Creel dude Nancy found. He's the only known survivor. If anyone knows how to beat this curse, it's him!"

"Yeah, that's assuming he was cursed, Henderson, which we don't even know.."

Steve interrupted Dustin's train of thought, running a hand through his hair as he tried to wrap his head around what they were reading. Looking down at the article in his hand, he spoke up again.

"How can Vecna have existed in the '50s? It doesn't make any sense.."

Willow watched as Steve put his mind into overdrive, trying to figure everything out but it didn't avail to much. It was her little brother that continued on with his thoughts, bringing up some interesting points.

"As far as we know Eleven didn't create the Upside Down. She opened a gate to it. The Upside Down has probably been around for thousands of years. Millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs!"

Steve looked at Dustin as if he had lost his mind, talking about dinosaurs, but Willow agreed with him. From what they knew, the Upside Down seemed to be some form of parallel world to their world, another dimension, and that sort of thing doesn't just pop up randomly. It could have been created when the Earth itself was created.

"Dinosaurs? What are we--"

"Okay, okay, but if a gate didn't exist in the '50s, how did Vecna get through?"

Lucas interrupted Steve, but the Harrington boy only backed up Lucas, pointing at them.

"And how is he getting through now?"

"And why now?"

"And why then? Just pops out in the '50s, kills one family and he's like "Eh, I'm good" and poof he just disappears, just gone? Only to return 30 years later and start killing some random teens? Nah, I don't buy it. "Straightforward" my ass, you know honestly Henderson, a little humility every now and then, it wouldn't hurt you."

Steve finished his little rant with a huff, looking expectantly at Dustin, who let out a small "Sorry..", Willow sat up and pat her brother's shoulder in reassurance, sending a look at Steve.

"Easy, Harrington."

Steve held up his hands in defence and flopped down on an armchair, folding his legs and lifting up the article again to read it through once more. Willow shook her head and looked past Steve's shoulder to gaze at Max in the far corner, writing furiously on a piece of paper. It seemed Dustin was looking in the same direction, since he spoke up gently to his friends.

"Any idea what she's writing?"

The other two boys turned in their seats to look towards the redhead, and hearing no answer, Dustin continued to think out loud.

"Did she sleep?"

Willow didn't wait for an answer from her friends, standing up and slowly walking over to Max. She chose to sat on a box next to the desk, watching her continue to scribble away, but she didn't dare look at what she was writing. She knew it was private.

"Max..?"

She started with a soft voice, and Max did one final scratch on the paper before glancing at Willow, moving her arms in attempt to cover up what she was doing. She didn't answer the blonde girl, just stared at her. Willow knew the look in her eyes, she didn't want to talk, so she didn't push a conversation out of her. She just wanted to know if she was doing okay, all things considered.

"Do you need anything? Water, toast.."

Willow trailed off as Max just shook her head and turned back to her writing, her pencil scratching away on the paper again. Willow frowned, she knew she wasn't going to get much else out of her, and their short discussion stopped there as the bang of a door opening and footsteps descending into the basement made Willow glance up and move away from Max, after placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

She came towards the stairs to see Nancy and Robin standing there, rather triumphantly, which puzzled the group since they were in a... difficult situation to say the least.

"We have a plan."

Nancy grinned, handing them a neatly made file. Steve flicked through it, his brows furrowing as he tried to make out what it all meant, but Willow was quicker than him, looking up at that both of them with an equally proud grin.

"Going undercover. This is really well made Nance."

"Thank you Willow."

She swelled with pride as Harrington continued to look through the file, Robin now speaking up.

"Thanks to Nancy's newspaper minions, we are now rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame."

"I'm now Ruth!" Nancy interjected.

"And I'm Rose." Robin finished.

"Ruth?"

Steve stared at Nancy, his face was in a mix of expressions, pride, confusion and disbelief being a few. Dustin scanned down the paper and looked up at Nancy with marvel.

"Nice GPA."

"Thanks!"

Nancy's cheeks were starting to get a little pink from all the compliments she was getting from the Hendersons, but it was no surprise that they would be impressed, Dustin being a certified genius and Willow having literal telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Nancy cleared her throat to keep her ego from getting too big, continuing on.

"So we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we'd like to speak with Victor Creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics--"

"To which they said no." Robin butted in with visible annoyance.

"But we landed a three o'clock with the director."

"Now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor."

"And then maybe we can rid Max of this curse.."

Nancy's last words were more hushed to not disturb the person they were talking about, glancing over to see she was still writing away in her corner. Willow shared a look with Nancy, a look that could mean everything and nothing at all. The former always regarded the redhead as a younger sister, and Willow was once friends with Billy, believe it or not. When she was out for a midnight stroll, she found the boy seated on his porch, battered and bruised. Willow never pushed him into telling her what happened, but she already knew, she could feel it, and she could see it. Ever since then, Billy would go see Willow if he ever needed a shoulder to cry on or just the presence of someone next to him, and after Billy died, Max took his place, seeking refuge in Willow's room and spending the night at the Henderson's when her nightmares got bad. But after a while, she just stopped. And much like with Billy, Willow never pressured her to tell her why.

"Yeah, uh, about that." Steve spoke up, "We've been doing our Victor Creel homework and uh.. we got some questions."

"Lots of questions."

Lucas backed him up, and Nancy nodded, sympathising with them.

"So do we. Hopefully Victor has the answers."

"Wait wait wait, wait a second." Steve glanced around, looking rather stumped. "Uh, where's mine?" He held up the file.

Nancy hesitates, looking at Robin, before glancing at Willow, half expecting her to ask the same question. But Willow was actually rather content to not be joining them on their little adventure to the asylum, she'd rather keep a close eye on Max than wander anywhere near someone like Victor Creel. He creeped her out, even if there was a slight chance he wasn't crazy and that it was a demon that killed his family. She just wanted to stick close to Max, in case Vecna came back.

Nancy stood up and began heading back upstairs, Robin following in tow.

"You're not coming with us Steve."

She stated simply as she walked out of the basement. Steve looked bewildered and he shot up out of his seat, running up after them, Willow following closely behind in case Harrington said or did anything stupid. Steve wouldn't keep his mouth shut about it, annoying Nancy right up until she entered her room. Steve was now right behind her, Robin and Willow left in the back.

"Nancy you're out of your mind if you think I'm babysitting again!"

Willow peeked in to see the squabble, speaking up with a grin.

"Hey if you think about it, I'll be here with you this time Harrington, I'll make sure you won't get bored!"

Steve looked back, exasperated at Willow's words.

"Oh so you're not gonna ditch me for Munson again? Wow, Henderson, I'm honoured."

He retorted sarcastically, but Nancy pulled his attention back to her as she rattled on about how the kids weren't babies anymore and that Max was in danger and needed someone to watch over her. Willow would have agreed with Nancy, if she was listening to what she was saying, but she was too busy looking around her room, lost in thought as she snickered at the Tom Cruise poster, Robin snorting along with her as she teased Nancy about it.

"Can you please not touch anything?!"

Nancy yelled at the pair, Robin's hands on the cassette tapes on Nancy's bedside table, and Willow's glued to the small TV on her dresser, pressing random buttons to see if it would turn on. Her yell deterred them, but they just ended up switching positions, Robin now touching her jewellery on her dresser and Willow's hands all over the books and the small cat statue on her bedside table, shaking it around next to her ear as she tried to hear if anything was inside.

"Hold shit there's a little ballerina in here..!"

Robin whispered to them in excitement, Willow letting out an "Ooo!" as she dropped the cat statue and went over to watch the spinning figure in the small jewellery box. Steve pointed at them, more specifically Robin.

"Academic scholar, she's giving you an academic scholar vibe?"

Robin was offended at his words as she shut the box, Willow rolling her eyes at the boy and Nancy taking out some rather itchy looking clothes. Willow looked at them in disgust.

"Those look hideous Nance."

"Thank you for your enthusiasm Low. But it'll give her the vibe."

Robin slowly looked over in horror, shaking her head and furiously protesting, Willow holding her hand over her mouth as she cackled. Dear Lord, Robin Buckley was going to suffer.

_________________________

Steve and Willow were back in the basement along with the others. Robin and Nancy had left about on hour before to visit Pennhurst, and much to Steve's dismay, the duo were back at it again, babysitting the younger kids. Willow sat comfortably in the armchair Steve had been in previously, she had nicked a magazine from Nancy's room to occupy herself for the next while, and although it wasn't much to her taste, it was doing it's job right. Unlike the boys, she wasn't staring intently at Max, and she had even chucked the magazine across the table once to try and get them to stop staring, but to no avail. They were just nosy little pricks.

Max wasn't completely oblivious to their staring though, and she was even starting to get tired of it, raising her head and turning slightly in her chair to give them a glare.

"I know you guys are staring at me."

It was those simple few words that made the boys fumble and grab onto whatever they could to make it seem like they weren't staring at all, it made Willow snort and roll her eyes, mumbling out "Idiots.." and earning a sneer from Steve. Max sighed as she rummaged through her papers.

"How you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna, I don't know."

She cleaned up her papers and picked up some letters, finally standing up from her corner. She had been there for hours now, Willow was starting to worry she had accidentally glued herself to the chair, but thankfully not as she was standing in front of them all.

Willow set down her magazine and looked up at her, but seeing her give her an odd look and nod towards the boys, Willow glanced at the trio. They were now completely ignoring Max, Lucas and Dustin pretending to read magazines like Willow had been doing, and Steve throwing a ball up and down in the air above him. Willow facepalmed, and Max sighed.

"You can look at me now."

They all immediately stopped what they were doing and let out a string of "Sorry"s to the girl, now all 4 sets of eyes trained on her. She hesitated for a second, before handing out letters to each and every one of them. They seemed surprised to take it, but Willow already knew what this was, and didn't open it like the boys tried to after just getting it. Max wanted them to open it later. After she died.

A few tears rose up in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away and watched with a sad smile as Max scolded Dustin. As smart as he was, he didn't seem to understand.

"I'm sorry, what is this?"

"It's um... it's a fail-safe. For after. If things don't work out."

Realisation seemed to finally wash over the others, and Lucas was the first to speak up, sitting a little straighter than before, his attention now solely on her.

"Max.. things are gonna work out--"

"No! No, I don't need you to reassure me right now and tell me it's all gonna work out, because people have been telling me that my entire life and it's almost never true. It's never true. I mean of course this asshole curses me.. should've seen that one coming."

A wave of silence washed over them. As much as Willow wanted to reach out and take Max's hand, just to hold it for a second, it wouldn't help, it wasn't the kind of help that Max was seeking right now. Her strong character would just take it as pity.

She headed over to the table and picked up the walkie-talkie that was linked to Robin's and Nancy's, turning to look at Dustin.

"If we go to East Hawkins, will this still reach Pennhurst?"

"Of course, yeah."

"Wait why are we talking about East Hawkins?"

Steve chimed in, looking in between the two, and the more he looked at Max, the more tension began to rise.

"No, no. No!"

Max ignored his protests and picked up the rest of her letters and her bag, heading out of the basement and towards Steve's car. Of course the others couldn't just leave her alone and so they grabbed their own things, heading out after her in a hurry.

"Max. Max, seriously. Seriously I'm not joking okay? I'm not driving you anywhere."

"Steve if you think I'm going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement, then you're out of your mind. So you either take me where I need to go or you're gonna have to tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor, and if I live to see another day Steve, I swear to God, I will prosecute. Open the door."

"Uh, no."

"I know a good lawyer."

Steve stared at her in disbelief, and Willow crossed her arms, looking at Max like the proud mama she was. Harrington scoffed and finally gave in, taking out his car keys and unlocking his BMW.

"Henderson. That super-walkie of yours better reach Pennhurst."

They all got into his car, Willow had decided to leave her Caddy here, thinking they were surely going to return to the Wheeler's later that night. As she sat in the back, she watched Max hesitate to get in, and she gazed out to see her looking behind her.

"Max?"

The redhead jumped and she looked over at Willow, who gave her a worried stare. She shook her head and got in the car.

"I'm fine."

_________________________

Steve drove up outside Max's trailer, and Max told them to wait in the car as she jogged up to her home, letters in hand. Willow watched from her spot in the centre seat at the back of the car. To say she was awkward during the ride was an understatement, she was smooshed up between two ex lovers, one of them who was more than likely about to die today. It was not a pleasant car ride.

"That things got batteries in it, right?"

Willow turned her head to see Steve had asked Dustin a question, a very stupid question at that. Her brother stared at the young man in disbelief. Like Dustin would go anywhere without checking his walkies had batteries. Like Dustin would go anywhere without spare batteries.

"I'm not even answering that question... yes it has batteries!"

"Yeah I got it."

Willow chuckled at the short conversation, before leaning forward between the seats and gazing at Steve.

"So... y'know I really thought you were gonna get with Heidi, but Nancy? Now that was a plot twist I was not expecting."

"Are you really bringing this up now Henderson?!"

"I mean we have a few minutes to spare don't we?"

Willow raised her brows at Steve. She never missed an opportunity to tease him, and she thought it would lighten the mood slightly. It seemed Dustin agreed, as he turned to Willow with a grin.

"Y'know I was just asking him the same thing the other day."

"Ahhh, well wouldn't you know!"

Steve groaned as the Henderson banter commenced, the brother and sister going back and forth between talking about "The Hair's" terrible love life, but Willow's smile quickly fell as she sensed something.

Her head turned to the door of the trailer, looking at the windows, searching for anything that didn't look right.

"Willow? What's going on?"

Steve spoke up like a worried mother, but before the elder Henderson could reply, Max came from around the back of the trailer, looking rather shaken up. Willow sat back and opened the door for her, Max getting in rather hurriedly.

"Max are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just drive."

Came her snappy response, Steve turning on the engine and pulling out of the trailer park. As he drove along in the east of Hawkins, the boys kept asking her questions, to which she immediately shut them down, but Willow placed a hand on her arm. She could feel her fear. As much as Willow wanted to calm her down, she chose not to. She kept her energy, for in case something bigger happened later on.

The rest of the car ride was fairly silent, and after a while Willow let go of her arm to give her some space-- well, as much space as she could from being squeezed between her and Sinclair. After a while, Max spoke up feebly.

"Turn here."

Dustin looked back at her in concern, daring to speak up about it.

"Here?", as if he wasn't sure he had heard he correctly.

She simply nodded in return, and after a slight delay of uncertainty, Steve pulled up into the Roane Hill Cemetery. Willow recognised the place. It was where Billy was buried. She had visited Billy's grave a few times, only once with Max, and all the other times it was to bring a bunch of yellow and blue wildflowers she had picked in the fields surrounding Hawkins, laying them down in front of the headstone.

Steve parked right up beside a little hill that went directly up to Billy's grave, and Max got out as soon as the car stopped, determined to do this alone. Lucas didn't seem to get the message though, as she was walking up the hill he got out of the car and rushed after her, calling her name. Willow scooted over to where Max had been sitting before, protectively watching over her as she spoke with Lucas. He seemed to be begging her to talk to him, but being the rough girl she was, she didn't let him through. She kept her guard up.

The conversation ended as quickly as it started, Max walking away and Lucas watching her in defeat. He shuffled back over to the car and sat on the hood, hanging his head. The others watched from afar as she sat in front of the tombstone, Dustin standing outside, leaning on the door, but Steve and Willow still in their spots inside. If she had to guess what she was doing, Willow would say that Max was talking to Billy. Talking to him before she joined him. The thought sent chills down her spine and another round of tears weld up in her eyes, but once again she wiped them away, looking down at her hands.

She could be next.

Willow had a vision of a clock, maybe she was set to die today too. At least, that's what the group had deduced. But she hadn't been getting visions like Max had. Granted, Max didn't tell them she had been having visions, but Willow could feel it. She could feel it whenever it was near, the curse, like she was connected to it.

The slam of a door caught her off-guard, and Willow looked up to see Steve had gotten out of the car.

"Steve just give her some time!"

Lucas protested, but alas Harrington started to walk up the hill towards Max.

"I'm calling it. If she wants to get a lawyer, she can."

Steve spoke back defiantly, dead set on checking if she was ok. He jogged up the hill, and the others remained at the car, Willow getting out of the car to stand next to Lucas. They watched as Steve sat in front of her, but after a few seconds, Willow felt them same feeling of dread as before. Something wasn't right. They could see Steve yelling at her, waving his arms around, and Willow immediately started running up the hill, Dustin and Lucas following closely behind.

Max was in a trance. Her eyes were cloudy and her face twitched as she was deep in her subconscious, unaware that her friends were in front of her, desperately trying to wake her up as they yelled in her face, grasping her shoulders. Steve ordered Dustin to call Nancy and Robin, and the younger Henderson stumbled down the hill to get the walkie talkie.

Willow sat directly in front of Max, searching her face for any signs of life. In the background, she could hear her brother yelling into the walkie, but Willow was preoccupied with the situation in front of her. She firmly planted her hands onto Max's shoulder, gritting her teeth in concentration.

"Willow what are you doing? Willow!"

Steve was now grasping Willow to get her to talk to him, but Willow was fully focused on the girl in front of her. She was trying desperately, with very ounce of power she had, to drag Max back out of her mind, but the curse was too strong. Willow gasped as she suddenly let go of her, holding her head as the world around her spun and her nose bled profusely. Steve gripped her shoulders to get her to sit up, and Willow looked at him, tears in her eyes. This time she didn't wipe them away.

"I'm sorry Steve.. I tried.. I tried..."

She choked out, Steve wrapping one arm around Willow as she was near fainting, and his other hand gripping Max's shoulder. He was lost. He felt powerless, and he didn't know what to do.

Dustin came running back up the hill, his arms full of Max's cassette tapes and favourite songs, along with her Walkman. He dumped it all in the middle of the circle, the others staring at him incredulously.

"Her song, what's her favourite song?!

"What, why?!"

"Robin said it-- it's too much to explain right now, what's her favourite song?!"

Lucas rummaged desperately through the mound of mixtapes, trying to find the one Max listened to the most. There was a lot of hesitation, everyone yelling at each other as they tried to pick only one. Meanwhile, Willow sat there, just staring at Max. She was thinking. She was going to do something. And she wasn't going to like it.

Lucas finally settled on one, Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush, and Dustin shoved it into the Walkman, covering Max's ears as it started to play. It didn't seem to be doing much at first, Max was still in the trance, but soon after she started levitating. The others jumped back in surprise, but Willow raised up her hand to Max and closed her eyes, taking in deep breaths. She could hear Steve yelling at her, but the yells soon faded away, and were replaced by the sound of Kate Bush.

Willow opened her eyes and saw red.

At first, she was extremely disorientated, looking around in search of anything familiar, and she saw the grand father clock float by. She took tentative steps in the gruesome looking plain, and up ahead, she saw Max pinned to a column, a creature holding her in place with its claws piercing through her face.

"MAX!"

Willow's yell was enough to distract the monster as it turned to look at her in surprise, and Max stabbed something into it's neck. It released her, groaning in pain, and Max fell to the floor. Willow ran forward and picked her up, and before Max could ask what she was doing there, Willow let out a "C'mon!", dragging her up and running towards the opening, where they could see their friends yelling for them. Pieces of rubble, wood and stone hurtled down towards them as they ran, covered in blood and grime as they got closer and closer.

Willow felt something wrap around her ankle, and she was suddenly dragged back, letting go of Max's hand as she fell. Max turned in fright, tempted to get her friend, but Willow let out a loud scream and pushed Max through the opening with her mind.

Max was safe.

That was all that mattered to Willow as she was dragged along the blood soaked ground of the Hell that was Vecna's mind. When she came to a stop, she turned and was face to face with the monster.

"How you've grown... And yet you're still so weak."

Vecna spoke, and Willow didn't dare say anything in return. Their meeting felt like déjà vu, and it scared her. Scared her so much that she was completely silent. This didn't seem to please the creature before her, and he groaned, kneeling down and gripping her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"Look at me, One. Prove to me you are strong. Prove it."

Willow hated being called by her number. She scrunched up her nose and spat in his face.

"Go to Hell."

She kicked up her feet and landed a hefty one to his face, standing up and turning around to run towards the hole back to reality.

Only it wasn't there.

Kate Bush had faded away once Max was gone, meaning she was no longer linked to her mind. She was linked directly to Vecna's.

She spun back around to face him, seeing his face pulled up into what was one of the ugliest smiles she had ever seen, if it could even be considered a smile.

"Something wrong, One? Lost your way out?"

He took slow steps towards her, and she was lifted up and thrown against the column Max had been pinned to before, taking her place. Vecna stood before her and raised his clawed hand.

"I take no pleasure in harming you, child."

He muttered as his claw neared her face. Willow was stunned by his words. No pleasure in harming her, yet everyone else so far was out of pure joy and spite. Willow furrowed her brows in concentration, and Vecna's hand shook and wavered. He grumbled and pushed harder, the claws getting dangerously near her face, but Willow let out one last scream as she used her abilities to hold him back.

Everything went black.

-•-
author's note 。

Cliffhanger!!

XD I'm sorry I'm always leaving you guys on cliffhangers, but Vecna and Willow's connection is slowly starting to get revealed!

Will Willow wake up safe? Or will she still be succumbed to the curse?

I've been getting so many comments and messages on my profile, thank you so much to all the people that are supporting me, I love you all so much <333

Also, shoutout to amethystcherries , she just started writing an Eddie fanfic too and it's amazing, her writing is incredible!!

I hope everyone's having a good day/night, and if you have any suggestions I'd love to here them!

Dearest,
𝔎𝔥𝔞𝔬𝔰 。