When Mavis woke up, she didn't know where she was.

"El." her voice was deeper, clearly hinting at she'd been asleep a while. But, no El. Nothing, she was alone. "El!"

She got up too fast, her head spun slightly. She was in a white room, a rainbow on the wall. She opened up the door, apart of her thought it would be locked. Mavis crept outside, met with Owens immediately. She backed up with her hand rose, telling him to back off. "Where the hell am I?"

"Mavis." he held his hand up. "You're safe. Eleven is safe. We had to put you to sleep so you wouldn't know the location."

"I don't remember." she shook her head.

"You said it would be okay. You'll likely remember soon." he promised her with a nod. "Can you promise not to hurt me if I walk closer? To explain everything to you right now."

Mavis hesitated. "Sit on the bed, don't move."

"Got it." he nodded, walking slowly into the room and sitting on the bed she once was in. Mav stayed near the door, her back against the wall as she watched him. "We've brought Eleven here to restore her powers. No jail."

"Restore her powers how? Is she safe?" she questioned quickly.

"She is. It's like a training. We're not sure the time it'll take." he nodded to her. "Something is happening in Hawkins. Something dangerous. Your friends in California are safe, protected. But your friends in Hawkins, they're in danger."

Mav felt a flood of chills go over her arms as her heart fell. "My brother and sister are still in Hawkins."

"We know. Which is why I wanted to be the one to speak to you." he nodded to her. "For the time being, we don't know how long it'll take Eleven to get her powers back, in order to defeat this."

Mavis realized what he was hinting at. "This is where I come in."

"If you go home, you can warn them. Let them know she'll be home." he nodded to her. "It'll be dangerous, extremely. But, maybe if they know what's going on, it could make a difference."

"I don't understand." she stated with a faint frown of her eyebrows. "Why send me but not Mike, Jonathan, and Will?"

"Because we trust you the most with Eleven." he stared at her. "We trust you'll deliver her message with respecting that this will take time. You care for her, and we know you'd never put her in danger. We know more then you think we know."

Mavis frowned as she looked down the hallway, she shook her head as her eyes watered. "Can I see her? I don't-"

"Her training is more complex, we're afraid you won't be able to speak to her." Owens shook her head as he saw the pain on her face. "But we spoke to her before her training began. She asked me to give this to you."

Mavis looked at the paper, grasping it quickly to see sloppy hand writing in the shade of pink.

Dear Mav,

I'm getting my powers back. Hawkins is in trouble. Owens said you can help. Keep our friends safe while I try to keep you safe. Be back together soon. Love you.

Love, El

Mavis gave a sad smile, clutching the paper. She looked up at Owens. "I still don't understand how I can help any of this."

"Mavis." he stared at her. "Because you know all about what is happening in Hawkins already."

"Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelley for help." Max spoke as they all looked down at the files of the pair. "They both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then...then the nightmares. Trouble sleeping. They'd wake up in a cold sweat. And then they started seeing things. Bad things. From their past. And these visions, they just...they kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually...everything ended."

Carrie panicked as she put Mav's and Max's files side by side. Different trauma, same symptoms. Night terrors. Headaches. The only difference was Mav hadn't gotten nose bleeds yet. Her first headache was two days ago, before California. Carrie shook her head at Max. "It's gonna-you're gonna be okay Max. Both of you."

"We need to get ahold of her. Right now." Dustin ranted.

"Vecna's curse." Robin confirmed.

"Chrissy's headaches started a week ago." Max pointed out. "Fred's six days ago. I've been having them for five days. Mav two."

Carrie frowned at Max, she didn't know how to comfort her right now. Everyone tried to comfort her when she was a host, but no matter what anyone said, nothing ever helped her. Absolutely nothing.

"I don't know how long I have. All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than 24 hours after their first vision." Max's voice broke as she shook her head. "And I just saw that goddam clock, so.. looks like i'm gonna die tomorrow."

"You're not!" Carrie found herself yelling at her. She didn't mean to, but it sorta just happened. "You're not gonna die! Mavis isn't gonna die! We can- I mean, I was a host, right? He can come for me. Maybe if we try to get him, or summon him, he'll take me inst-"

"Carrie." Dustin grabbed her shoulders as her sad, panicked eyes stared back into his. "You're not going anywhere. Mav and Max..they'll be okay. We're gonna figure it out. We're not gonna sacrifice you though."

"It could work though." she swallowed with a nod of her head. "I could work."

"Doesn't matter." he shook his head at her. "It's not happening."

Before she could say anything, the sound of a door opening caught all their attentions. Steve rose his hand as he grasped a lamp by the door, creeping outside. Carrie put an arm infront of Dustin, walking out first. As the figure came around the corner, Steve yanked the lamp back.

"It's me!" Lucas' yelled, scaring the living hell out of Carrie as she stumbling backwards into Dustin.

"Lucas?" Nancy gapped.

"You scared me to death!" Carrie yelled at him. "I'm so glad I got to see you again!"

"Carrie?" he gasped for breath. "You're here?"

"Spring break." she hugged him as he panted over her shoulder. "Aren't you an athlete now? Why are you breathing like this?"

"I was biking for eight miles." he placed a hand on his chest. Carrie looked back at Dustin with eyebrows raised.

"Have you talking to Mavis?" Robin asked him quickly.

"Give me a second. Shit." Lucas hunched over. "I haven't, but we've got a code red."

"What?" Steve frowned his eyebrows.

"Dustin." Lucas nearly limped over to him. "I've been with Jason, Patrick, and Andy, and they've gone totally off the rails. They're trying to capture Eddie, and they think you know where he is. You're in terrible danger."

"All right. Yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason now." Dustin inhaled as he gave him the best, knowing look he had.

"Mavis. Mavis." she was shaken awake in the back of the van. Her eyebrows kitted together, stared at Valerie, the woman who was to drive her back to Hawkins. "I need to know where to drop you off at."

"Right." she sat up, looking around as she realized they'd entered Hawkins. She didn't know what sedative they gave her, but it managed to knock her out pretty decently. "If you take a right up here, I can navigate you."

"You're brave for this, you know." Valerie spoke as she drove right. "Putting yourself at risk for your friends. You didn't have to and you did."

"Well, I can't just sit around with all the information I know." she shook her head. "When I was at Penn Hurst...I always thought Victor was full of it. I don't know why. I mean, it's not impossible after all we've witness."

"Eleven will be proud of you. Thankful." she nodded, taking the next turn as Mavis pointed.

"How did he know? Owens." Mavis looked over at her, getting a questionable look. "How'd he know Victor Crill told me everything when I was there? That was a year and a half ago."

"I'm not sure, sweetie." she shook her head. "This is it?"

"This is it." Mavis nodded as she looked at Dustin's house. "Thanks, I guess."

"Remember, Mavis." she spoke as the girl opened the door. "You tell them what you know, and that Eleven is coming. Nothing more. We're trusting you."

"You have my word." the pink haired girl nodded. "Don't let anything happen to my girl."

Valerie nodded her head, Mavis shut the van door and walked toward the back. She pushed Dustin's window open, jumping in as she rolled onto his bed. She headed for his small radio on the desk, messing with the dials before hitting the button. "Dustin?"

"Mav?" he yelled, it was clear he was out of breath. She could hear severe yelling in the background, she could make out Steve's voice. "God, you're
okay! We have a big problem! Come to the cemetery, now!"

"Is this about the Victor Crill thing?" she asked quickly, not expecting it had happened so quickly.

"How do you know? Are you safe?" he yelled back. "Nancy and Robin aren't answering!"

"Dustin, listen to me!" Mavis yelled suddenly. "You need some type of music! It lets them come back, trust me!"

"What!" Dustin yelled.

"Victor was in the cell next to me at Penn Hurst! He told me about the curse, he came back from it!" she yelled into the speaker. "Find music! I'm on my way now!"

She turned the radio off, jumping out of Dustin's window yet again, grabbing his bike, and taking off.

Dustin clutched Max's cassette tapes and walk man as he ran over. "Mavis is okay! She knows!"

"She knows?" Carrie yelled as they had all been in the process of trying to wake Max up.

"She knew Victor!" he dumped the cassettes. "Music! What's Max's favorite song?"

"Ugh, it's the Kate Bush one." Lucas nodded as they all began to rummage throwing the tapes.

"Running Up That Hill?" Carrie breathed out as she found it.

"That's it!" Lucas yelled, taking the tape and hurrying to shut it into the walkman.

"Hurry!" Steve yelled as Dustin secured the headphones on Max's head.

"Now!" he yelled as her body began to levitate into the air, Lucas hit the button as the familiar song echoed with her.

"Max!" Carrie yelled up to her. "Mav was wrong!"

"She isn't wrong!" Dustin shook his head.

"Max!" Lucas yelled up to her, Steve helping him do so.

Mavis peddled so hard she no longer felt her legs, which was helpful to stop the burn. She was coming up on the cemetery, the closer she got the more she saw familiar red hair floating in the sky. Her heart fell. "Max!"

She ditched the bike, dropping her bag with it as she sprinted now. Cheerleading had required a lot of physical activity, and she often pushed herself and the girls to run to get their heart rate up and prepared to cheer. That being said, she was fast. Really, really fast. She ran until she made it to Steve's car, seeing Max's body fall infront of the grave as the group all wrapped her in safety.

"Max! Lucas!" Mav ran up the hill quickly, the sky orange. "Dustin! Carrie! Steve!"

"Oh, thank god." Lucas sighed in relief when he saw her, unharmed and safe.

"Mav." Max hurried to stand up. Seeing her, seeing her safe, it was a breath of fresh air for all of them. She ran to her, hugging her tightly as Mavis squeezed her shoulders. "Are you okay? I don't-"

"I was literally loosing my shit." Carrie ran over to them quickly as they hugged. "I'm so happy you're not dead."

"Not dead." she smiled as Max cried into her neck. "I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner."

"You saved Max's life." Lucas hurried to hug his sister when Max backed off. "I was so worried about you. Never go to California again."

"Got it." she hugged him tightly, Dustin added in on the hug. "It worked. The music?"

"It worked." Dustin tucked his head into her neck. "You did it."

"Maybe we don't need to retire Mav Magic so soon." Steve spoke as the boys let her go.

"I told you." she hugged him tightly. "How'd I know you'd be here?"

•

kylie speaks

and she saves the day once
again. really out here being
the literal glue of the party