veda henderson

"What the hell?" I whisper, turning on my heels. Now is not the time for me to be out of action. I lift my head, taking in my surroundings. A banner hangs over the stage reading 'Snowball'. The name is familiar to me, something Dustin said about his past school dance he went to alone. He asked me to go with him, but I was too busy meeting Billy Hargrove for my fix.

Dustin told me Nancy Wheeler went out of her way to be nice to him, dancing with him in front of everyone the second she spied him sitting alone. I guess that's why I like the girl so much, she was there for him when I wasn't.

"Veda?" I hear a fearful voice. I spin, meeting the blue eyes of the brave redhead I've grown close to.

"Max!" I yell, taking off into a run towards her.

Before I can reach her, I feel myself sucking in a lungful of air. My eyes open to reveal Dustin's distressed face as well as the blue tinge of the upside down behind him.

"We gotta go!" He screams. I don't have time to react before I feel Eddie's hands grab my body, pulling me to my feet to force me into action. We run to the edge of the roof, dropping down onto the top of a pickup truck before hitting the ground.

"Shit!" I huff, spying the bats closing in on us.

Dustin enters the gate first, yelling at Eddie to shut it as the male enters behind me. He slams the gate shut, pausing for a moment to look at the demo-bats as they struggle to break through.

"Eddie!" I yell, catching his attention. He turns, running inside of the trailer in time for me to slam it shut behind him.

The second we all get inside, the sounds of our rugged breaths fill the air.

"Dude!" Dustin yells over the loud noises of the bats, "Most. Metal. Ever!"

Dustin's words send the three of us jumping up and down in our place, celebrating our step closer to victory.

Our cheers are soon cut short by a particularly loud bang. All three of us stand still, the steps of the plan leaving my head as I feel fear encapsulate itself around me. Eddie moves first, turning to me and grabbing my shoulders while carefully avoiding my wounded arm.

He looks me in my eyes, determination and confidence radiating off of him in a way I've never seen before, "Go. Meet Max in the trance. We'll take care of everything here and when the time comes, we'll wrap the rope around you and pull you up like we did last time,"

"But what about you?" I feel my throat rasp. If I get wrapped and pulled through the gate, that means Eddie has to stay behind to do so. I am not okay with that.

"Dustin will throw the rope back through and I'll climb up, okay?" He reassures me as if he can feel the terror in my body. "Don't worry about me, sweetheart. Max needs you, Go,"

I nod, stepping out of his hold and moving to a spot near the rope. At least if I go into the trance standing close to the rope, Eddie and Dustin don't have to waste time getting into position.

Dustin and Eddie stand back to back, their bodies acting as a shield in front of me as they turn. They hold their shields and spears in front of them, protecting themselves. I spy my shotgun sitting on the ground near them, praying to whoever is listening that the dipshits use it if shit goes south.

"Here goes nothing," I whisper, closing my eyes and searching the darkness for a thread that leads to Max. Max is a smart girl, and despite going into these things unwillingly, I know she'd leave a trace for me to find her. I'm not exactly experienced in this whole astral projection thing, but, my determination makes up for my lack of experience.

"Be careful, V," I hear Dustin almost whisper from beside me, his voice reminding me of when he was just a little boy full of admiration towards me.

I think back to the snowball that almost crushed his heart if it weren't for Nancy. I try to envision it, the streamers and banners, balloons covering the floor. More importantly, I envision Max.

From the corner of my eye, I see her. She sits alone at a table, sitting and waiting for her doom.

I turn and run towards that vision. It takes all my strength to ignore the sounds of distress coming from Eddie and Dustin in the real world. If this is going to work, I have to trust them. They're both smart, I know they can handle this and get up that rope alive.

Air forces itself into my lungs, my converse squeaking on the middle school gym floors under me. I look up from my shoe, making eye contact with Max as she gets up from her seat and sprints over to me.

Max is brave and the strongest kid I've ever met. But, she is just a kid. I'm older than her, my presence allows her to drop her guard and feel frightened even just for a moment. She catches up to me and wraps her arms around me in a quick hug. I barely get to register it before she pulls back and her tough girl persona is etched back on her face.

"Are you okay?" I ask her, looking over her for any signs of physical injury.

"Never been better," She comments sarcastically, looking around the room. Right as she turns her neck to look, the decorations slowly become consumed with rust, covering every inch of the room until it falls into a deep blue tint similar to the one of the upside down. White particles filter in, slowly falling down like snow without ever gathering on the ground.

"What the hell," I whisper, parts of me amazed by the quick transformation as I turn and take in the changed environment.

"Come on," Max tells me, marching over to the tables and chairs in the corner of the room. She grabs a chair and pulls the legs off of the ground, turning to me as she speaks again, "We don't have to make it easy for him,"

"Damn right," I agree, grabbing a chair of my own and lifting it up before following Max towards the entrance/exit of the gymnasium. We stack the chairs in front of it before going back and grabbing more until every chair is stacked in front of the door.

To make it extra secure, we each grab one end of the same table, lifting until the legs leave the ground and we move the table to the front of the door.

I huff, dropping my side of the table before turning my back to it, Max and I looking out at the mostly empty gym. I take a few steps forward, Max at my side as we move towards the centre of the room, "That should give us maybe a few seconds-"

"Veda," Max cuts me off, concern in her tone. She looks behind me, eyes trained on the door we just barricaded in fear. I follow her gaze, horror overcoming me as I spot the now clear doorway. Instead of the usual school-issued double doors, a single wooden door sits on the wall, a glass rose opening staring back at us.

"You can't hide from me, Max,"

"You can't save her, Veda,"

Vecna's voice rings out at the same time, overlapping as if he is somehow talking to both of us at the same time.

Instinctively, I protectively wrap my hand around Max's bicep as if my touch can keep her from being pulled away from me. I turn to her, watching as she draws in a deep breath before closing her eyes. I can practically see her memories flashing behind her eyelids, the happy moments between her and all her friends, my brother included.

"You think I don't see what you're doing?" Vecna's disembodied voice rings through the air once more. "You think I don't see... everything? You thought you could trick me? You thought your friends could stop me? I see them. I see your friends,"

As he speaks, images force their way into my mind. I see Dustin on the golden side of Hawkins, safe from the bats. I see my body on the couch beside him, sitting like a robot with glossed eyes. But, more importantly, I see Dustin screaming Eddie's name begging him to stop.

It feels like someone punches me in the gut when I see everything through Dustin's eyes. Eddie has cut the rope between worlds, his body moving as he lifts the mattress up from the ground and tosses it away so that Dustin can't come through even if he tries. I hear the fear and sadness in Dustin's voice as he pleads with his best friend to stop.

If Eddie's actions don't rip a hole through my heart, the way Dustin sounds right now sure does.

I then see Lucas, tears in his eyes and hands up beside his head as Jason Carver aims a gun at him, throwing around demands despite Lucas begging him to stop. Then, I see Steve fighting with more of those vines as Nancy and Robin scream his name. Everyone is in trouble at once, circumstances suffocating all of us.

I then flick back to Dustin, tears in his eyes as he pleads with Eddie one last time, asking him what he's doing.

Eddie pauses at the gate, looking up at my brother and flicking his eyes over to my still body, "Buying more time,"

He pauses once more, looking at my body before going back to Dustin.

I can feel the sob gathering in my throat, my heart screaming out to him to stop despite knowing he can't hear it. He speaks one last time, a sadness in his face, "Don't let her hate me, Henderson,"

With that, he turns and runs out of sight.

This isn't real. It can't be real, none of it.

"I can feel them dying," Vecna's voice reaches my ears, flashes of Steve, Nancy and Robin being slowly strangled by the vines force themselves into my head. I see a glimpse of Eddie, riding a bike as fast as he can into the distance with an army of bats behind him.

"Stop!" I yell, my eyes snapping open to reveal the same gymnasium as before. He's trying to distract me, throw me off my game enough that I can't fight against him and he can easily take Max. I can't think of those images right now, there's no telling if any of that is even real.

To my left, I hear Max's scream of agony and terror. I turn just in time to see Vecna send her flying back against a wall. She becomes pinned to the wall, her arms spread out as she screams in fear. I see Vecna in person, slowly walking towards the scared young girl.

"Vecna!" I yell. In an instant, Vecna disappears from his spot only to re-appear on the other side of the gym. His body is suddenly mid-air, floating as he continues his step only for his foot to not be met with the cold hardwood floors, instead, he falls through the air until he hits the gym floors hard.

I gasp, looking down at myself. Did I do that? Did I open a portal?

Vecna gets to his feet, his anger being replaced by pride as he looks over me. He knows I did that, he knows I opened a portal.

"I knew you wouldn't disappoint me, Veda,"

I don't say anything, refusing to feed into his delusions as I run towards Max, now being closer to her than Vecna is. The surprise of my supernatural attack is enough for Vecna's powers to dim, allowing for Max to break free and fall to her knees on the floor. I reach her just in time for her to push herself to her feet.

Just as I reach Max, I feel myself being ripped away from her by an invisible force. My body hits the ground, sliding across the floors until my back hits the wall with a thud. I ground in pain, turning to try and soothe the throbbing.

Yes, Vecna needs me alive to be his subordinate, but he can injure me as much as he likes.

I place my palms on the ground, ready to push myself up when I feel another invisible force grab me, slamming my back against the wall once more and pinning me there by my throat.

Gasping, I scratch at my throat to try and find a way to break free of Vecnas powers. I look over at Max, watching as she becomes pinned to the wall once more, Vecna appearing in front of her as he speaks.

The ringing in my ears prevents me from hearing what he says, but I know it's anything but warm and encouraging. I close my eyes, willing myself to open a portal and appear somewhere else in the room. The dark space fights against me, refusing to gift me what I need for the first time. I peek my eyes open, watching as Vecna lifts his clawed hand up in front of Max's terrified face.

"Come on!" I choke out, glaring at Vecna hard like I did when I opened the portal just before.

Please, work. I've never asked this power for anything in return, nothing I could use. Please, answer my calls for help now.

Just as I feel all hope is lost, Vecna gets dragged back by a similar invisible force, his body flying backwards until he comes to a stop in mid-air. I feel his magical grip on my throat loosen, Max falling to the ground once more.

That wasn't me.

I don't dwell on it as I quickly push to my feet, running to where Max is picking herself up. Both of us turn to Vecna in the air as he gasps, something choking him.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see a white blurb. I turn, making out the figure of a person as they walk forward with their powerful hand in the air. She glares at the back of Vecna, blood dripping from her nose, her once long hair now reduced to a buzz like it used to be.

Eleven.

She slowly turns her hand, the monster in the air turning with her until he faces her. Through his grunted breaths, he speaks in an accusatory tone, "You,"

"Hi," Is Eleven's reply before she thrusts her arm to the side sending Vecna flying through the air. He crashes through the wooden bleachers to my right, his body disappearing into the rubble.

Eleven immediately runs towards her ginger friend, inspecting her for injuries, "Max, are you okay?"

"Are you... real?" Max asks bluntly, touching parts of the bald girl's face as if she can answer her own question by touch.

"I'm real," Eleven insists, holding one of Max's hands between her own.

Max's blue eyes flick to me before landing back on her powerful friend, "How? Are you like Veda or- How?"

"I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer," Eleven smiles as if that's a totally average experience.

I tilt my head slightly, eyeing the strange girl with amusement, "Huh,"

Eleven turns to me, a small smile on her face as she looks over my outfit, "Why are you dressed like that?" She asks with no hint of malice or judgment, just pure curiosity.

"You have missed a lot, El," I huff, standing closer to the two girls. Just as Eleven opens her mouth to reply, a creak echoes around the room, instantly putting everyone on edge once more.

The three of us turn, stepping through the streamers just as Vecna emerges from the wooden structure.