𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧
𝙇𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 . . .

A sudden gasp and a cry was what woke Steve, Nancy and Dustin.

The trio looked over to see Willow furiously crying, grasping onto the blanket around her and looking around in panic, trying to desperately formulate a correct sentence, but to no avail.

Steve was the first to move, jumping over the table to wrap his arms around the girl and rocking her back and forth, trying to soothe her. Nancy stayed put on the floor, but Dustin was up as quickly as his friend to join the hug, tears forming in his eyes as he worried for his sister.

She had been out ever since the incident in the graveyard, they started to think she was in some kind of coma, her breaths steady, her eyes shut and her body limp. But she was awake again, having a panic attack, but awake.

As she struggled to breathe, Steve stroked her hair and continued to rock them back and forth, whispering words of encouragement, telling her to breathe in slowly through her nose and back out again through her mouth, and after a minute or so, her tears came to a stop and her breathing was back to normal, replaced by the sound of.. Blue Monday by New Order?

Willow raised her head from Steve's shoulder, brows furrowed in confusion as she lifted her arm and tried to grasp whatever was hanging around her neck.

At first her heart skipped in worry again, fearing for the worst, that it was the collar from her time back in the lab, but it easily slipped off her neck and she looked down to see the headphones of a Walkman, like Max had.

"I know Blue Monday isn't your favourite song," Steve spoke up, "but it was all we could find in your bag and Dustin said you still liked it, so we figured we might as well try it, see if it works, help keep Vecna away, y'know? I mean I've never even heard of New Order, what are they, some underground band or something? Sounds like it's from 2022 or something--"

"Steve.." Willow cut him off, with a soft smile. She was thankful to have such a wonderful friend, thankful to have such a wonderful brother. She brought them both in for one last hug, letting out a long sigh of relief.

The sweet moment was cut short when the walkie-talkie crackled to life.

"Hey Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished. You there? Dustin can you hear me?"

Willow and the others leaned away from the hug, looking at the radio, though none of them moved to take it, just staring at it, even Dustin.

"Dustiiiiiin. Earth to Dustiiiiiin."

Nancy rolled her eyes at the trio of idiots and picked up the walkie, turning it on.

"Hey it's Nancy."

"Wheeler, hey! Um, I'm gonna need a food delivery, like, really soon, unless you want me going out into the world--"

"No no no, don't do that. Just, stay where you are and we'll get there as soon as we can."

"Yeah yeah, listen, um... can you pick me up a six pack? I know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would reeeeally calm my jangled nerves."

Willow grinned at the boys choice of words, but she could see Nancy getting distracted as she looked at the empty spot next to her.

"Hey I'm gonna have to call you back."

Nancy cut off the call, barely giving Eddie time to protest, and she set down the walkie, looking at Dustin accusingly.

"Aren't you supposed to be on Max watch?"

Realisation seemed to light up in his eyes as he glanced at the spot next to Willow, letting out a "Shit!" before rushing towards the stairs of the basement, Nancy and Willow following in tow. They wandered through the house and stepped into the kitchen, sighing in relief as they saw Max seated at the dining table with Holly.

"Morning guys!", Karen called out cheerily as she cooked at the stove, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, everything's.. okay."

Nancy breathed out in reply as they stared at Max, who simply looked back at them nonchalantly, ears covered with her Walkman, Kate Bush still blaring. Willow noted how exhausted she looked.

"I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this."

Karen addressed them with a smile as she placed some more perfectly-made pancakes on the pile in the plate, Ted grumbling as he barely looked away from his newspaper.

"Could try sticking together at a different house for a change."

Nancy ignored her parents and her made her way over to Max as Willow and Dustin stood by Karen, she pointed at them with her spatula.

"You know you are welcome here anytime."

Dustin nodded and Willow sent a sly grin at Mr Wheeler as he sipped at his coffee.

"Totally. You're like family. May I?"

Her brother moved forward to take a few pancakes, and Willow pouted slightly as he stacked them onto his plate.

"Oi, leave some for me Dusty..!"

Karen gave Willow a plate of her own and she gave her a smile in thanks, taking a few pancakes of her own and watching from the corner of her eye as Mr Wheeler stared at them in annoyance from stealing all his breakfast.

The Henderson siblings moved over to the dining table to take a seat, and with only one chair left, Dustin took a seat and patted his knees with his goofy grin. Dustin had grown to be slightly taller than his older sister, so even if she was older, it was usually him that ended up doing the more physical roles, like taking down something from a high shelf that she couldn't reach, or in this case, taking the seat and letting her sit on his knees.

As they chowed down on some lovely breakfast, something that Willow was in dire need of after passing out for a whole day, they listened in on Nancy and Max's conversation. Max spoke about how something was different about the area that she was in, it wasn't like the hallucinations she had been having, and Willow agreed. It seemed all too familiar.

"Maybe you infiltrated his mind.", Dustin suggested, "He invaded your mind, right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his?"

"Dustin has a point..", Willow chimed in, "The way he was manipulating those rocks to fall on us, the environment was bending to his will, he was controlling it all."

"Like Freddie Krueger's boiler room!"

"Freddie Krueger?" Holly spoke up, scrunching up her nose.

"He's a super burned-up dude with razors for fingers, and he kills you in your dreams--"

"Dustin! Seriously!?", Nancy stared at him in disbelief.

The group were so used to going through horrific things at this point that they were almost desensitised to that kind of thing, especially fake stuff like horror movies. Unfortunately for Holly, or rather fortunately since she didn't have to go through the things they did, she was not desensitised to it, and would more than likely end up having nightmares tonight.

"Sorry. It's a movie. It's not real." Dustin tried to reassure her, but she clearly wasn't having it. He continued on, now focused on the others again. "Just think about it. What if you somehow opened a backdoor to Vecna's world? Like, maybe the answer we're looking for is..." He picked up one of Max's drawings. "... somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing? God we need Will."

"Yeah no shit. But I tried them again this morning and it's the same busy signal."

Max admitted, but Willow watched as Nancy began picking up some of the drawings, shuffling them around.

"Is this a window?"

"Yeah."

"Stained glass with roses."

"Yeah. See? I'm not so terrible after all."

Dustin scrunched up his face as he ate, strongly disagreeing with her, but Nancy replied.

"Yeah well it helps that I've seen it before."

She muttered, picking up the drawings and folding them over. Willow watched, her cheeks stuffed with pancakes, as one by one, Nancy folded over edges and corners, turning them into different shapes, and once she was done she placed them together, creating one single drawing. She took a marker and outlined the whole thing.

A house.

"Victor Creel's house."

Nancy stood up in realisation, taking the pages and heading back towards the basement.

"Where are you going?"

"Waking the others."

As she walked off, Max followed, and Dustin and Willow made there way back to the kitchen to take a few more pancakes, much to Mr Wheeler's dismay, before heading down after them.

_________________________

Nancy's car came to a screeching halt outside of the Creel house. The entire ride there, the car was filled with noise, whether it was from Dustin and Steve in the back, Blue Monday pounding out from the Walkman around Willow's neck, Running Up That Hill playing from Max's headphones, or Nancy complaining about how loud everyone was.

But when they came to a stop, everyone was dead silent as they exited the vehicule and stared up at the daunting house.

"Yeah.. That's not creepy.", Steve mumbled.

"Talk about Scooby Doo and the Haunted House Hang-Up." Willow chimed in. She loved Scooby Doo, could name almost every episode. Steve stared at her with a snort, shoving her arm lightly and walking past her. Willow grinned, calling after him, "You're definitely Fred, but y'know, dumber!"

The gang all headed up to the door and Steve took out a hammer, taking out the nails one by one.

"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?"

"We're not sure. We just know this house is important to Vecna." Nancy replied as she helped with the nails.

"Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?"

"Basically."

"Great."

Dustin piped up, "Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is. Why he's back, why he killed the Creels, and how to stop him before he comes back for Max."

"We... don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas sounded afraid, and everyone shared a look, not really knowing how to respond. It was Max that spoke up, in her usual blunt nature.

"Guess we'll find out."

Steve and Nancy nodded to each other once all the nails were out, and they pushed the wooden board down, watching it slap down onto the ground, blowing leaves away. Everyone looked up at the stained glass door, the rose insignia standing out in a dull red, covered in dust. Steve tried to open it by the handle, but when it revealed to be locked, Robin picked up a brick and threw it through the glass. Steve put his arm through the hole delicately, to not hurt himself from the sharp glass, and after rummaging around, he opened it from the inside.

The group stepped in hesitantly, looking around at the eerie home. Willow felt a chill down her spine as she looked at the pictures on the walls, but she found herself drawn to the staircase. Even in the decrepit home, it still looked majestic and called for her to step up them.

Dustin turned on his flashlight, it seemed he had finally remembered to put batteries in them, and Steve questioned him on where he got it. Dustin stared at him incredulously, and Willow snorted as she took out her own, switching it on and looking around further as Dustin nagged to Steve, giving him a spare one. The bag was thrown into the centre of the entrance, and Max called everyone forward. Willow looked up and her breath got caught in her throat.

The clock.

The one in her visions.

"You guys can see that right?"

"Yeah.", the other's reassured as they took tentative steps towards it.

"Is this what you saw? In your visions?"

Max nodded in confirmation, but looked just as petrified as Willow was.

"I mean... it's just a clock, right?"

Robin tried to rationalise, stepping closer and wiping the dust away from the glass shielding the grandfather clock.

"Like a normal old clock."

"Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks? Maybe he's like.. a clockmaker or something?"

Although Willow wasn't in the best of moods due to the clock, she still managed to crack a smile at Steve's idiocy. Dustin thought the same as he rolled his eyes.

"I think you cracked the case Steve."

"Nice going Fred." Willow chimed in, but Steve didn't get to reply to their sarcasm as Nancy spoke up.

"All I know is... the answers are here. Somewhere. Okay everyone stay in groups of two or three, Robin, upstairs."

Nancy and Robin disappeared upstairs, and Max dragged Lucas off into a different corner of the house, leaving Steve, Dustin and Willow alone in the entrance. Willow didn't hear the two boys squabble, staring at a picture of the Creel's on the wall. A family of four. She lifted her hand up to wipe away the dust, and she touched the side where the young Henry Creel stood. He looked so... familiar.

Her thoughts were washed away as Dustin took Willow's sleeve and dragged her up the stairs along with him, still calling out to Steve about how he sighed in annoyance at the Henderson siblings. Willow let her hand drag along the staircase's railing as they walked up, but another tug on her sleeve and she was once again knocked out of her wandering thoughts. They started off by entering a random room, and Willow thought she had heard the crackle of a walkie talkie, but she brushed it off as her imagination as they looked around.

"Hey uh, Henderson?"

"Yeah?", both Willow and Dustin replied, but after snorting at each other and looking back at Steve, it was clear that he was talking to Dustin.

"Can you maybe uh, clarify what sort of clues we're supposed to be looking for here?"

"The world is full of obvious things..", Dustin started to speak in a British accent, and Willow finished off his sentence in a similar accent.

"... which nobody by any chance ever observes."

The siblings stared at Steve for a bit, but they only received a very puzzled stare from the boy, to which they both spoke up at the same time again, "Sherlock Holmes." Still receiving no reply, Dustin scoffed and walked off, and Willow shook he head, piping up, "Nevermind, you might as well be Shaggy at this point."

"Thanks Willow, real helpful."

Willow spun around with a grin, but she watched as Steve's focus switched to a vent in the ground. They bent down and the Harrington boy forced it open with a grunt, Willow slowly putting her hand inside to take out a jar. She looked at it in awe.

"A black widow.."

She mumbled, before Steve suddenly flinched and backed up in fright, swiping his hands on his shoulders. Willow set the jar down and watched as he stepped into the hallway, bumping into Nancy, now completely covered in spider webs.

"What's wrong?"

"There was.. there was a spider."

Willow stood up, calling to them, "It's okay Steve, they're in jars!"

The duo didn't seem to notice Willow however, too enraptured in their discussion. She watched with a soft smile as they spoke to one another, Steve trying and failing to quote Sherlock Holmes and sound intelligent, and Robin chiming in every now and then. Willow almost felt jealous. They still shared a spark, despite everything they had been through.

The blonde girl watched as Steve practically ran away away from Little Miss Wheeler after making a fool of himself, stepping out from the room and following after him.

"Jesus Steve, that was brutal.."

"Yeah you're not really helping Low, could really use some of your good ol' advice for a change, y'know, advice you seem to give to everyone but me."

Willow smiled sadly at her friend and took his hand, making him stop.

"You need to stop trying so hard.. Steve, everyone sees it but you."

"Sees what? You better not say I have a thing for Nancy--"

"No, you big dumbass. Dustin looks up to you. Nancy sees you as a protector. Robin sees you as her best damn friend, and so do I. Steve, you're the only one who doesn't see how fucking amazing you are. You try so hard to be cool and smart and funny. But you already are. I mean, sure, the smart part might be a bit of a stretch--"

"Hey."

"But goddamnit Steve, open your eyes. You're already amazing. And if some girl doesn't see that, or you're trying so hard to impress them, then they don't fucking deserve you."

A comfortable silence settled on the pair, and Willow stared at Steve expectantly.

"Was that good enough advice for you?"

Steve couldn't help but smile and bring Willow in for a hug, resting his head on hers, but not missing a beat on a chance to tease her, no matter how special the moment was, "You know you have pretty good advice for someone who has never even had a first kiss-- ow!"

He grunted as Willow punched his side.

"Play nice, Harrington. I just gave you free therapy."

They chuckled together, but it was cut off by a yell from downstairs. The duo feared for the worst and rushed down the stairs, meeting the others under the chandelier. They all stared up at it with wide eyes as the lights flickered. Something was there.

"It's like the Christmas lights.." Nancy whispered, and Robin looked at her in confusion.

"The Christmas lights?"

"Yeah, when Will was in the Upside Down, the lights.. came to life."

"Vecna's here. In this house."

"But in the Upside Down.", Willow finished Lucas' thought to clarify for Robin.

The lights flickered for a few more seconds, before shutting off.

"I think he just left the room.."

"Did he hear us?", Max spoke up, her voice laced with worry.

"Can he see us?", Steve continued, sounding equally as fearful.

Lucas leaned over to Max and signalled her to put her headphones back on, and Steve looked at Willow, nodding at her to do the same. They both put them back on, and soon Willow's senses were drowned out by New Order. She saw Nancy say something but couldn't hear it due to the song, but as everyone turned off their lights, Willow followed suit. Dustin grabbed onto Willow's sleeve and began walking around the house. Willow assumed they were looking for another light to be on, and soon enough Dustin was leading her towards the group again, where Robin stood with her flashlight in the air. It flickered, before turning off and the light moved to Steve's flashlight.

Vecna was on the move.

They followed after Steve and his flashlight through the house and up the stairs, but the light jumped again behind a door, leading up to the attic. One by one they walked up, and Willow couldn't hear Dustin's protests, following after her friends.

They stood in a circle in the centre of the attic, around a small dangling lightbulb, and they held up their flashlights, watching as they turned on and pulsed. The lights stagnated, before it gradually got brighter and brighter.

The bulbs all exploded.

They were left in complete darkness.

-•-
author's note 。

I don't know about you guys but I find Willow and Steve's friendship so fricking adorable oml

We got a bit of Eddie this chapter, but I promise he will be returning in the next one, and Willow and him will get some super cute moments too eheh

Thank you all so much for the congratulations on 100k, it wouldn't have been possible without you guys, you're literally the best, couldn't ask for better readers <333

I'm also in the process of writing a Twilight fanfic on Embry Call, I dunno if any of you would be interested but I kinda like the idea I have!

Until next time,
𝔎𝔥𝔞𝔬𝔰 。