veda henderson

          The squelching sound of Vecna's feet hitting the ground echoes throughout the gym. I feel myself stepping forward despite Eleven being beyond capable of defending herself. I don't want her to overwork herself so soon and lose her powers.

    Almost as if Vecna senses this, he makes eye contact with me. His evil eyes narrow on mine before he lifts his hand and swipes it through the air. I flinch, feeling wind gust all around me before I open my eyes. Instead of the blues of the snowball, all I see is red everywhere. Everything from the sky to pieces of a house is covered in a red light.

    I've been here before.

    I'm the only one here, surrounded by crimson objects and nothing else. No Eleven, no Max and no Vecna. They're all alone with him somewhere else.

    Why would he get rid of me? To save me so I can become his puppet?

    "Max! Eleven!" I scream, wishing on anything that they can hear me. 

    Clenching my eyes shut, I try to focus on the previous room I was in. The balloons, the streamers and the two girls in it. But, no matter how hard I try, I feel my feet cemented on the ground of Vecnas lair. 

    Closing my eyes again, I try with all my might to open a portal, anything to get me back. Except, when I close my eyes, all I see is Eddie in the middle of hundreds of bats, screaming in anger as he prepares to fight them. 

    A noise escapes me without my consent, something between a sob and a whine as I snap my eyes open. Vecna is sending me these images just to mess with me, they're not real. I know they're not. He knows the only way I'll join him is if I have nothing left. I won't give him the satisfaction.

    Suddenly, a noise behind me alerts me to another arrival. I spin around, ready to fight before I notice a girl in white rolling across the ground. Her once white pants and floral shirt are covered in red mud from the ground.

    Two vines slither out like snakes from the wall, wrapping themselves around the tired girl and pulling her up to a wall.

    "El!" I shout, ready to run to her and pull her free. Before I get a chance to, two more vines appear and wrap themselves around my wrists, yanking me until my back hits the wall.

    I watch as the tentacles tie themselves around an almost unconscious Elevens wrists and ankles. Her eyes fight to stay open, borderlining on unconsciousness. 

    "El! Are you okay? Where's Max?" I fire questions at her. Her eyes slowly flutter open, taking in her new red surroundings. 

    Tears of fear well up in her eyes, her body pulling into itself as she turns to all angles. I look to the left of her, the sight before me almost forcing stomach acid up into my mouth.

    Chrissy's body, tangled. and distorted in a tree of slimy tentacles. Her eye sockets are bare and her body looks like mush without the sturdiness of her bones.

    I clench my eyes shut, dropping my head to try and rid the image of her from my mind. 

    Footsteps echo, catching my attention once more. I look up in time to see Vecna nonchalantly walking towards another piece of crumbled house, Max slung over his shoulder. He drops her to the ground as if she's no more than an object, the vines almost immediately curling themselves around her body and pulling her up all while restricting her.

    "Stop!" I yell. Vecna pauses, slowly turning around until he faces me with an unamused expression. "I will be your puppet, I'll be whatever you need me to be but not if you kill her! If you kill her I will never join you! I will never stop fighting against you!"

    He tilts his head as if he's amused by my sentiment. He takes slow steps towards me, his silence telling me he's waiting for me to continue. 

    "I'll stand by your side for however long you need me to. And after that... after that you can take me instead," I bargain, ignoring Eleven's protests. I keep eye contact with the thing that was once a man, begging him silently and loudly all at once, "Just please, not her. She's just a kid,"

    "At first, I wanted you to stand beside me," He begins, getting close enough to me for me to be able to see the tentacles on his neck move. "But, now I just want you to watch,"

    My heart sinks, my eyes widening at his suggestion. "No, please!"

    He ignores my pleas, turning to face his back to me as he walks back towards an unconscious Max. Eleven is close to my side, struggling in the vines to try and escape to no avail. 

    Something in my eye flashes, a spark of some sort of magic or broken fuse. I turn to Eleven, seeing her already staring at me as if she too saw the flash. I close my eyes, channelling that same feeling I felt when Vecna turned his back on me. 

    Sure enough, something else flashes in my view, this time clearer.

    A portal.

    Eleven makes eye contact with me, trying to communicate something to me with nothing but her eyes. I understand her very quickly, the plan she's trying to convey to me. I turn forward just as Max opens her eyes and yelps in fear, struggling back as Vecna approaches her.

    It's now or never, please work.

    I hear my heartbeat in my ears as I drown out all other noise, focusing on the scene in front of me and allowing myself to feel what I've spent years trying to push down. Everything surfaces, every emotion I've buried over the decades. The vision of Eddie resurfaces, the one of him being cornered by deadly creatures.

    Within seconds of seeing him, I push forward, feeling myself fall free from the vines. A feeling like I'm floating overcomes me, dragging the seconds into hours until I appear right beside Max. Vecna eyes me, shock on his face as he makes eye contact with me.

    I reach for Max, holding her tightly in my palms as I glare towards the creature in front of me.

    "How's this for watching?" I throw his earlier words back in his face. I see his mouth open in anger as if he's about to scream at me, but I don't stick around long enough to see what he's going to say. Once I see Eleven break free from her vines, I focus again on that feeling, even the feeling of flying that comes with teleporting. 

    I enter that black void once again, Max's hands reaching for me as she too floats through worlds with me. I make eye contact with her just as we feel the ground reappear under us.

    I feel hardwood floors under my knees, Max's arms still firm in my hands as I finally open my eyes. Max sits in front of me in the middle of the Creel house, a blue light illuminating us both. I look around, making eye contact with a shocked Lucas.

    "You just... you just appeared out of nowhere!" He rambles, looking in between me and the ginger next to me.

    "Where's Jason?" I ask quickly, remembering the vision Vecna showed me.

    "Jason? What-- he's... he's not here," He tells me, moving to inspect Max for any injuries, even pinching himself to make sure it's real. 

    Suddenly, I feel a crushing feeling in my body as if something is being ripped away from me. I close my eyes, the unsettling feeling soon subsiding. 

    If Jason wasn't here, that means the other visions Vecna showed me are all fake, Eddie is safe, and he's alive and well. 

    Closing my eyes, I try to force a portal to open, something to get me to that trailer faster. But, I don't feel that familiar pull I once did, that tug into that dark space. No matter how hard I try, I can't summon my power, when I reach for it, my hand is met with nothing but air.

    "She's done it. Eleven stopped Vecna," I say out loud, both young teens in the room with me stopping to turn to me, a sense of relief overcoming the room.

    "Are you sure?" Max questions, fear still making her voice quiver.

    "I'm sure. He's gone," I nod, not being able to contain the smile overcoming my face. Max breathes a sigh of relief, Lucas immediately moving to wrap his arms around the girl.

    Almost as if to confirm, I feel someone reaching for me in my mind, the tiny spec of me that's from the dark place recognising the touch as Eleven, confirming Vecna's death. 

    The same vision of Eddie and Dustin resurfaces in my mind, twisting my gut until I feel sick. I have to go there and make sure that they're safe, that the vision isn't real.

    "You two okay?" I ask, my breath leaving me as I search both of their faces. They nod, smiles on their face. I nod, rising to my feet as I speak, "Okay, okay. I have to go, I'll be at Eddie's trailer, meet me there,"

    I don't wait for them to reply as I step around them and bolt out the door. The wind licks my damp skin, sending shivers through my body as I book it out of the house, turning onto the street.

    Eddie's trailer isn't too far from here but, I know deep down, even if his trailer was in the next town over, I would still run all the way there just to make sure he's okay.

    And so, I ran.

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a/n

and just like that, we've entered the au ending part of the story! Just as a little explanation, I don't plan on continuing this story into season 5 at this point, so to avoid a cliffhanger ending of Vecna winning, I've decided to switch it up ahh.

anyways, we're very close to the end, can't wait for you guys to see what's going to happen!