"Dustin, do you copy?" Robin spoke through the walkie-talkie while Max, Olivia, Steve, and Dustin continued to saunter into the school where they would hopefully find any documents of Ms. Kelley's patients.

"Yeah, I copy." Dustin nodded.

"So, Nancy's a genuis. Vecna's first victims date back all the way to 1959." Robin explained, Olivia listening with furrowed brows. "Her shot in the dark was a bull's-eye."

"Okay, that's totally bonkers, but I can't really talk right now." Dustin rolled his eyes slightly.

"What are you doing?" Robin questioned in confusion.

"Oh, just breaking into the highschool to retrieve confidential files because we always seem to be the group who fights monsters." Olivia muttered casually, Steve and Dustin both looking at her with slightly wide eyes.

"Can you repeat that?" Robin questioned in disbelief, Olivia already knowing the girl was staring with furrowed brows and a dropped jaw.

"Just get your ass over here, stat." Dustin cut in, rolling his eyes. "We'll explain everything." With that, Dustin turned off the device, stuffing it back into his backpack, then following after Olivia and Max, who were now standing in front of the door to Ms. Kelley's office.

Once they had gotten into the counselor's office, Max and Olivia had immediatly moved over to the storage cabinets where they knew the confidential files would be. The two sisters didn't even pay attention to Steve and Dustin conversating behind them, Max pulling out Chrissy Cunningham's file, while Olivia searched for anything else that could do good, what? She didn't know.

As Max pulled out Chrissy's file, Olivia's jaw slacked open in shock at what she saw. Max furrowed her brows, hovering over her sister's shoulder when noticing the shock on her face.

"Holy shit." Max muttered, finally realizing what she was reading. In the brunette's hands was a file which read 'Fred Benson'.

"You found it?" Steve questioned, walking over to the girls and putting his hand on Olivia's back.

"Yeah, and not jsut Chrissy's file." Max muttered, still looking at the file in her sister's hands.

"Fred was seeing Ms. Kelley too." Olivia muttered, turning torwards Steve and Dustin, watching as their jaws slacked open slightly as they observed the file in her hands. Max wasted no time to flip through the files, Olivia at her side as she too helped the process move faster. It felt wrong for her to be going through a dead girl's file, but she knew she would want the same thing done to her if she died and their was a problem to be solved.

As she read through the list of symptoms, she suddenly felt a feeling of familiarity and fear wash over her.

Past Trauma.

Terrible Nightmares.

Difficulty sleeping.

Headaches.

And then she realized, she had been going through the same thing, and so was her sister.

Her breath got stuck in her throat as she stared down at the paper, slightly sliding her chair back away from the desk, but trying not to bring the attention to her.

"Can I see Fred's file?" Max questioned, turning to Olivia, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, yeah. Here." Olivia grabbed the file out of her lap, moving it on the desk for Max to grab, the red-head quickly flipping through the pages. When she then read the same symptoms upon Fred's file, her jaw completely fell open, not only because he had been going through the same thing, but so was her and her sister and she never even realized it had more of a meaning.

Max suddenly looked up from the paper, while Olivia's eyes stayed down at it. Steve and Dustin both noticed, Olivia quickly pretending that everything was fine. She turned to her sister, the girl staring forward.

"Max? What is it?" Dustin questioned, the three looking at each other when she didn't respond. "Max! Max!"

Olivia quickly moved over to her sister, putting her hands on her shoulders, noticing her eyes were strained forwards, a small gloss covering them. Her brows furrowed in worry and confusion as she softly shook her sister, the red-head staying completely still and unresponsive.

"Max. Hey, Max!" She shouted, shaking the girl slightly rougher, looking up at Steve in fear as he stood to his feet, fear washing over all of them. "Max, wake up." Olivia said as she shook her sister's shoulders, trying to ignore the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

Thankfully, in seconds, Max's eyes had shot open, the girl looking around anxiously. When she noticed Olivia sitting in front of her with a worried expression, she sighed.

"Hey, are you okay?" Olivia questioned nervously, her hands still on Max's shoulders.

The red haired girl nodded slowly as she breathed heavily, standing up shortly afterwards and looking over at the door. She began walking out into the hal suddenly, Olivia sharing a confused expressions with her boyfriend before grabbing his hand and pulling him along into the hall, Dustin following.

"It was here." Max muttered after they had joined her, Nancy and Robin, too, returning. "Right here." She spoke through a cracked voice, she shoulders slightly shaking.

"A grandfather clock?" Nancy repeated from behind the red head who was showing them a dead end hallway.

Max quickly nodded. "It was so real. And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just..." Olivia listened with a softened expression for her sister, holding Steve's hand tightly as they all stood behind her. "I woke up."

"It was like she was in a trance or something." Dustin muttered, looking over at Robin and Nancy. "Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy."

Max then turned around to face the rest of the group, Olivia finally noticing the scared expression she was wearing, and it suddenly made her heart break all over again. "Thats not even the bad part." Max then pulled everyone back into the counselor's office, the group making themselves comfortable while Max stood in front of them to explain.

"Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelley for help." She explained as Robin looked over the files. "Uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then... then the nightmares."

As Max spoke, Olivia couldn't help but think about her own problems and how she was enduring most likely the same thing, but she knew now wasn't a good time to say anything, ever or at all because there was bigger things to worry about, and that started with Max.

"Trouble sleeping." Max muttered shakily as Olivia stood next to her with a comforting hand on her shoulder. "They'd wake up in a cold sweat. Then they started seeing things. Bad things. From their pasts. These visions, they just... they kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually... everything ended."

"Vecna's curse." Robin muttered suddenly, looking up at the red-head.

"Chrissy's headache started a week ago. Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days." Olivia's heart dropped at the thought of losing yet another person that she loved. First, her dad, then Alexei and Hopper, and now possibly her sister. "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. And I just saw that goddamn clock, so... looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow."

Olivia quickly shook her head. "No you aren't. Don't say that. We're gonna figure this out." She cooed, Max nodding slowly and hesitantly before moving closer to the brunette and wrapping her arms around her. Max sniffled shakily as Olivia held the back of her head, her heart practically racing.

"I'm sorry this is happening." Olivia muttered just barely under her breath, Max's eyes peering up to look at her sister. The red-haired girl nodded, wiping under her nose.

A sudden clanging sounded from out in the halls, everyone quickly whipping their heads around. Olivia glanced over at Steve as the room grew quiet, the brunette boy reaching for a lamp in the corner of the counselor's office. Olivia furrowed her brows, as he clutched it, turning back to look at them.

"Stay here." He muttered, running his eyes back and forth between everyone before landing on Olivia.

When they watched him leave the room, the brunette girl had finally had enough. She scoffed, shaking her head before trailing behind him quietly, ignoring his orders to stay in the office. The group all glared at her in confusion before slowly following after her.

Once Olivia had reached Steve, she rested her hand on her boyfriend's shoulder, the boy flinching slightly at the sudden touch. He turned quickly to meet her eyes, the girl softly smiling as he sighed in relief. He continued to walk forward, the lamp out in front of him protectively, Olivia and the rest of the group cautiously following behind him.

They suddenly heard the door around the corner open with an echo, Olivia furrowing her brows before everyone began shouting in fear when a familiar body sped around the corner. Steve yelped, quickly pulling the lamp post back when he had noticed that the figure had been Lucas.

Olivia sighed as she pressed her hand to her chest, shutting her eyes. Everyone slowly eased again, their breathing heavy, while Lucas was practically hyperventilating.

"Lucas?!" Olivia's jaw dropped, stepping forward slightly.

"It's me! It's me." He shouted, holding his arms out in fear as his chest heaved up and down, trying to catch his breath.

"Jesus, what's wrong with you, Sinclair? I could've taken you out with this lamp!" Steve raised his voice, flailing hid arms around in anger.

"Sorry, guys. Sorry." He panted out, resting his hands on his knees as he struggled to breath, Olivia drawing her brows together.

"Are you okay?" She questioned with narrowed eyes, bringing her hand to rest on his shoulder as he continued holding his hands on his knees.

"I was..." He panted, standing up as he nodded tiredly to the older girl. "I was biking for eight miles." He then held up a finger for them to wait, the boy putting his hands on his hips as he continued to pant heavily. Olivia watched with raised brows as she sighed, adjusting her coat and tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Give me a second. Shit." He muttered, shaking his head as his face was scrunched. "We've got a code red." He finally muttered out, nodding to the group.

"What?" Steve questioned in confusion, shrugging his shoulders.

Lucas panted as he quickly speed walked over to the curly-haired boy, who was frowning in complete confusion. "Dustin. I've been with Jason, Patrick and Andy, 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."

Dustin rolled his eyes with a dropped jaw, Olivia looking at him in shock. "All right. Yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason right now." Dustin shrugged the topic of the jocks off, the boy turning over to the younger sister standing behind the group. Her face tensed as she looked at Lucas awkwardly, everyone's eyes now on Max.

***

The group had returned to the Wheeler household that night, now sitting in the basement the next morning. Steve, Max, Olivia, Lucas and Dustin were all crowded down in the basement while Nancy and Robin were upstairs in the Wheeler girl's bedroom,doing God knows what.

Olivia's nose was stuffed in a magazine containing strange occurances in Hawkins, nothing new to her, and other articles amongst the page which had information on Victor Creel, who the two girls upstairs informed the group on, of what they knew. She sat criss crossed on the ground, leaning against the couch legs in between Dustin and Lucas.

"Okay, be honest. Uh..." Steve suddenly muttered, Olivia not focusing enough to listen to her boyfriend. "You guys understand any of this?"

She looked up from her magazine, her brows furrowed slightly from his confusion, and her concentration in reading her fascinating article.

"No." Lucas groaned.

"Uh, yeah?" Olivia stated obviously.

"Pretty straightforward." Dustin muttered.

"Oh, straightforward, really?" Steve tilted his head at Dustin, his tone laced with disbelief.

"What's confusing?" Olivia questioned with a shrug, looking up at her boyfriend from the floor. He looked down at her, then his eyes trailing back to the paper as she continued speaking. "I mean, everyone cursed by Vecna has died, except for this really creepy, old, blind dude that Nancy found." She shrugged as it was obvious, the group looking over at her in agreement, except for Steve.

"He is the only know survivor." Dustin added on, Steve now glancing at him. "if anyone knows how to breath this curse, it's him."

"That's assuming he was cursed, which we don't know." Steve muttered with a shrug, his brows furrowed in utter confusion.

"I assume he was." Olivia muttered, slapping her magazine onto the ground beside her. "There's no way this old man sitting in a psych ward, had anything to do with these deaths. I mean, call me crazy, but I just don't feel like he did it." She explained, stretching her legs out in front of her.

"But, how can Vecna have existed in the '50s? It doesn't make sense." Steve mumbled to himself, shaking his head.

"Far as we know, Eleven didn't create the Upside Down." Dustin spoke. "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." Dustin raised his voice, pointing to himself.

"Dinosaurs? What are we-"

"Okay. But if a gate didn't exist in the '50s, how did Vecna get through?" Lucas proposed a new question, Steve quickly adding on.

"How's he getting through now?"

"And why now?" Lucas continued.

"And why then? Just pops out in the '50s, kills one family and he's like, 'I'm good'. And poof, he just disappears. Just... gone? Only to return 30 years later and start killing random teens? No, I don't buy it." Steve added on, Olivia shook her head quickly, holding her hands out at their rants.

"Okay, okay. Calm down." She muttered over them. "Just, chill. My ears can't take this." She said sarcastically, Steve grinning at her. "You guys just brought up so many more things we have yet to figure out, and in case you don't remember, we still don't even know who this guy really is. So, stop, like, spitting out a bunch of random shit 'cause it's a lot." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, trying to rid the headache which was occupying her mind for the past few hours of the early morning.

Steve's smile fell as he looked down at her. "Sorry." He muttered, reaching for her hand as he sat back down in the chair next to her. "Honest, Henderson, a little humility now and then, it wouldn't hurt you." Steve suddenly muttered, pointing his paper at Dustin accusingly.

"Sorry." Dustin mumbled, looking back down at his paper.

Everyone continued reading their papers in silence, Olivia and Steve's fingers still laced together, the girl stopping her reading ever once and a while to look up at him, not that he knew.

"Any idea what she's writing?" Dustin suddenly muttered, Olivia looking up at his words. She frowned, confused by what he was on about until she noticed Lucas and Dustin both glaring in the back of the basement living room corner where her sister was sitting at a desk.

Everyone turned to look at her, Olivia's heart aching for her sister, wishing that it was herself in her position rather than her sister, after everything she's been through.

"Did she sleep?" Dustin questioned, Olivia shaking her head, although she was still looking at her sister's back.

"I mean, would you?" Lucas finally spoke, Olivia sighing as she held Steve's hand tighter.

"She was up all night." Olivia muttered quietly, the group still watching her worriedly. "She's scared. I'm scared for her. She didnt even want to be up alone." Olivia told them, the group all looking at her in sadness, Steve rubbing his thumb across her back hand soothingly.

To break the loud silence, the basement door suddenly swung open aggressively, Nancy and Robin quickly sauntering down the steps together. Olivia quickly turned around as she sat on the ground.

"Okay, so..." Nancy muttered, looking over at Robin with a smile, Olivia noticing the two girls holdjng brown files which she had no idea what they contained. "We have a plan." Nancy turned back to them, smiling.

"What is it?" Olivia muttered, watching as Robin walked over to her, nonchalantly handing her the file first. The brunette gladly accepted it as Nancy gave Steve the other file, the two girls now joining them in the space.

Olivia glazed over to paper, finally realizing that it was all fake information, Robin and Nancy appearing as now college students who were working on the Victor Creel case as their 'thesis'.

"Thanks to Nancy's minions, we are now roch-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame." Robin informed them, Olivia's lips down turned in shock as she nodded.

"Smart." She mumbled, reading over Robin's file.

"I'm now Ruth." Nancy commented, Olivia's head quickly looking up as she tried holding back her smilr.

"And I'm Rose." Olivia then finally snapped, the brunette girl snorting a laugh, everyone turning to her with furrowed brows. Nancy and Robin looked at her with the most confusion, Olivia trying her hardest not to laugh.

"What?" Steve muttered, watching as she held her shirt over her mouth, pretending to read the paper again so she didn't laugh. When she didn't answer, Steve nudged her shoulder. "What?"

"Nothing." She shook her head, sighing deeply to rid herself of the laugh bubbling in her chest. When she looked up at Nancy and Robin, her mind immediately flashed back to them introducing their new identity names. Olivia finally laughed, leaning forward, moving the file to her side. Everyone watched as she put her hands over her face, her laughter muffled. She didn't even know why she found the situation funny in the slightest, maybe the fact that she didn't remember the last time she even enjoyed anything.

"Olivia." Robin muttered, everyone watching with amusement as she covered her face, continued to laugh. "Stop."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" She exhaled deeply, taking deep breaths as she removed her hands from her face, revealing her red cheeks. "I just..." She breathed deeper, knowing that she wanted to laugh again. "It's not funny. I'm sorry. But... Ruth? And Rose?" The girl still sitting on the floor suddenly caused herself to laugh again, her back falling to the ground. Steve smiled at her as she laughed, Nancy rolling her eyes.

"Olivia Reese." Robin muttered more sternly. "Stop. It." She tried not to smile as she shoved the girl's back up, Olivia shaking her head as she pursed her lips to contain her laugh.

"I'm sorry." She smiled, Lucas and Dustin watching her with raised brows and smirks. "I'm sorry. That's just really funny and I-" She cut herself off at the harsh glare Nancy was sending her way. "It's not funny. No. Not funny." She shook her head vigorously, straightening her face forcefully, as everyone watched her adjust her position on the carpet.

When she had finally contained herself and avoiding looking at anyone in order to keep a straight face, she cleared her throat. "Continue." Steve smiled down at her as she sat on the floor, his hand rubbing up and down her back.

"Nice GPA." Dustin muttered, now reading Nancy's file while Steve had taken Robin's from his girlfriend.

"Thanks." The light-haired girl nodded with a small smile. "So we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we'd like to speak to Creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics-"

"To which they said no." Robin finished, Olivia finally content and paying full attention with furrowed brows.

"But, we landed a three o'clock with the director." Nancy added on as Steve passed the file on to Lucas.

"Now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor." Robin muttered with a curt nod torwards the group, Olivia pursing her lips.

"Then maybe we can rid Max of this curse." Nancy mentioned quietly, the sudden vibe in the room shifting back to worry as they all glanced over at the red head who still continued writing on papers. Olivia sighed, wanting to go over to her sister and comfort her. Or, not even. She just wanted to take her hurting away. She only knew her sister for three years, and one of those not even knowing they were related, and yet, she still grew loving of the girl, despite their relationship. Loosing her would be her downfall.

"About that." Steve muttered, bringing Olivia back from her thoughts, turning back to face the group. "We've been doing our Victor Creel homework, and, uh..." Steve muttered, turning back with pursed lips. "We got some questions.

"Lots of questions." Lucas agreed, nodding over to Steve as he returned the file back to him.

"So do we." Nancy muttered. "Hopefully, Victor has the answers." She shrugged, looking around at the group.

"And... If he doesn't want to speak? Or if he doesn't even remember 'cause he's like two-hundred and I'm assuming he's a Vecna victim?" Olivia questioned, looking up at Nancy and Robin, bringing her knees to her chest.

"Well..." Nancy sighed, pursing her lips as she thought of the words. When she couldn't proceed, Steve cut in.

"Wait... Wait... Wait a second. Uh..." He looked around are everyone's hands in confusion, causing his girlfriend to turn to him with drawn brows.

"What's wrong?" She questioned.

"Where's ours?" Steve finally spoke, pointing between himself and his girlfriend next to him on the floor, Olivia now trailing her eyes over to Nancy and Robin, the Wheeler sister pursing her lips.

***

After Nancy had explained to Steve that it was best that the two girls only went, he immediately got offensive, Olivia sighing as she has no choice but to follow the three other teens up to Nancy's room, although the girl staying silent since she didnt mind staying with the kids and she didn't want to leave her sister anyway to follow a lead that isn't hers.

"Nancy, you're outta your mind if you think we're babysitting again." Steve complained, the four teens trailing into Nancy's bedroom. Olivia moved to the bed, dropping down on it and crossing her legs while resting her head on the pink and blue quilted pillow cases.

"First, they're not babies anymore. And Max is in real danger. She needs people around her." Nancy spun around as she stood in front of her closet doors, Olivia sighing in boredom before reaching for the teddy bear on the bed beside her, sitting it on her stomach as she flailed it's arms around.

"I know. But why us?" Steve questioned, shaking his head as he paced slowly.

Robin suddenly entered the room shortly after, a loud gasp escaping her mouth as she ran into the room. "Oh, my God, you have a Tom Cruise poster." She smiled, turning back to Nancy as the realization hit her.

"You have a Tom Cruise poster." She repeated with a grin again, that time more mischievously. Olivia looked up at her as she continued playing with the stuffed animal, smiling as Robin laughed giddily to Olivia.

"That's old. It's just... Can you please not touch anything?" Nancy retorted, turning around in frustration as Robin began scouring the bedroom, looking at the objects in amazement.

"I can't do anything here, Nance." Steve argued, shrugging in anger. "Maybe I can be helpful with his asylum director dude. I don't know. I could turn on my... my charm." He snapped.

The girl laying on the bed chuckled, Steve turning to her with narrowed eyes.

"What charm?" She teased her boyfriend as he scoffed, shaking his head as he watched her smile to herself while playing with the bear's arms, the boy grinning slightly.

"Liv. Shut up." He muttered, the girl giggling to herself as she looked down.

The brunette stopped paying attention when she noticed Robin approaching the dresser with a dropped jaw, causing Olivia to smile. The short-haired girl then opened the pink and white box, a slow tune quietly playing on cue. Robin giggled, turning to see if Olivia was seeing what she was. Olivia knew that Robin didn't have as much growing up, and she found it cute to see her friend so excited over little things, like a jewelry box for example.

"Holy shit. There's a little ballerina in here." Robin whispered, turning to Steve and Nancy for the first time. Olivia chuckled, sitting up and crossing her legs as she patted the seat across from her for Robin to sit.

Steve and Nancy stared blankly as the two girls payed no attention to the serious conversation, instead, Olivia beginning to pull out jewelry and hofling it up in front of Robin to observe whether or not it suited her. Steve scoffed, shaking his head as he turned to Nancy.

"Academic scholar? She's giving you an academic scholar vibe? Yeah." The boy shook his head in disbelied. Nancy didn't answer, instead, continuing to look in her closet.

Olivia gasped suddenly, Steve and Nancy quickly looking to her. "Oh. My. God." She muttered, her and Robin now kneeling down by Nancy's nightstand, Steve watching with amusement as she acted like a child with her friend. "It's my favorite!" She laughed, clapping her hands while holding a tape, Steve sighing in relief.

"Jesus, Liv." He shook his head. "I thought something serious happened."

"This is serious!" She laughed, running to the Walkman next to Nancy's bed, quickly changing the tapes and sliding in her favorite song, 'Seperate Ways by Journey'. She frantically pressed start, sliding the headphones onto her ears. She slid back onto the bed, not hearing anything the group was speaking about as new songs began playing. She then smiled, realizing all of the songs on the tape showed that Nancy actually had spectacular taste.

Olivia sighed in content before sliding the headphones off of her ears, sitting up and moving torwards Steve. "Hey, Nance? Yeah, this mix tape is mine now." She smiled, running her finger along the dozens of writing utensils on the desk before reaching a sharpie.

Nancy sighed, shrugging her shoulders frustratedly. "Okay, okay, I don't care. Take it, fine." She shrugged, turning back to her closet. Steve turned to his girlfriend, noticing her writing big words on the tape inside of the Walkman. He then read, 'Liv's Ass Kicking Mixtape'. He smiled, putting his hand on her back.

"Cute." He muttered, the girl looking up at him and nodding.

"Well, duh." She shrugged with a smirk. "It's mine. Of course it's cute." She quickly pecked his lips, the boy shaking his head with a smile before watching her drop back onto the bed with the headphones over her ears, 'Take on Me by A-ha' now blasting in her ears.