Chapter Thirteen
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Old Times

            The War Zone was crowded with worried residents of Hawkins, much to the dismay of Olivia and her friends. She supposed with the town now knowing that there was something strange happening in the town, they were preparing for these scary times with much needed weapons and things.

            "So much for angry hicks," Robin pouted. The group decided to split up and Nancy gestured to Olivia to partner up with her.

           The girls began their search for suitable weapons that would be strong enough to help them to defeat Vecna. "Does this feel familiar to you?" Nancy recalled with a smile, referring to when her, Olivia, and Jonathan were monster hunting and shopping for weapons just like this three years ago.

             "Gosh, that feels forever go," Olivia laughed at the memory. "And now here we are again, only this time it's a monster much scarier than before."

            "Well, for what it's worth, I don't think we would've survived at all if you weren't there to help us," Nancy admitted honestly as they pushed passed the crowd. The two girls grabbed a shopping cart and began to fill it with all sorts of supplies and gadgets and really anything they thought that could be useful to them. "I mean, you pretty much saved Steve's life at the Byers' house when that crazy Demogorgon thing was about to kill him. I think he was pretty much smitten with you ever since."

            "Steve and I weren't even friends back then?" Olivia tilted her head at her friend in complete and utter confusion while throwing a gallon of kerosene fuel into the cart.

            Nancy shook her head at the clueless girl. "Olivia, I love you but you can be really oblivious sometimes. I think Steve always had a thing for you, even way back when we were dating," The raven haired girl revealed.

            Olivia listened to her in shock, not having known this information before. She had absolutely no idea Steve had ever had feelings for her before they even became friends. "You've really done a number on him, Liv," Nancy giggled. "He's... changed, somehow. I don't know how you did it, but all I know is that he's not the same Steve I used to date. He's a much better person now and I know that that has to do with you," She said with admiration, nudging Olivia's shoulder lightly.

            The Henderson girl stayed quiet with a small smile on her face, unsure of what to say but her heart was filling up with warmth. After spotting a shotgun hanging on the wall, she quickly grabbed it. "What about this one, Nance?" She asked, changing the subject.

            Nancy nodded approvingly and as Olivia walked up to the counter to ask for the price, she froze when she heard an all too familiar voice calling her name.

            "Olivia Henderson. Wouldn't expect to see you here," Jason Carver spoke slyly.

            Olivia closed her eyes before turning around slowly to face him. Olivia knew Jason because of Chrissy but she never liked him, and only tolerated him because of her.

            "Yeah, well it's just... scary times," She said uneasily. There was grief so clearly written on Jason's features but also determination. "I'm sorry about, Chrissy. You're not the only one who lost her," She said softly.

            Jason nodded at her, glancing at the gun she was holding. "Want my advice? Shotguns are not good for much of anything past killing birds. I mean, they got power, sure, but not range. And that's just gonna force you into close-range combat, then someone can just grab that barrel like that..."He walked closer to her and Olivia took a step back back, but only for him to inch closer to her. "....and redirect it." Jason paused, studying her face. "Well, you look nervous."

            "Like I said, scary times," Olivia spoke softly, growing more uncomfortable by the minute.

             "Now, your brother Dustin, is he here with you by chance?" As Jason mentions her brother, a fury rose in her.

            "No," Olivia gulped, her first instinct being to protect him.

            "I only ask because he's in Hellfire, isn't he?" Jason asked in a low voice, and it took everything in Olivia's power to stay calm.

            "I don't know what your talking about," Olivia lied. She silently cursed herself, because everyone knew that she was a terrible liar.

            "Don't lie to me. I know you would say anything to protect your brother. What about his friends?" Jason grabbed Olivia's arm forcefully, making her flinch. "They here with you?"

            "I have no idea where Dustin and his friends are," Her eyes shift down to Jason's firm grasp. "Let me go, Jason," She ordered.

             When Nancy spotted Jason with Olivia, the Wheeler girl marched up to him with fury. "Hey! Let her go," She demanded, crossing her arms.

            "Nancy Wheeler?" Jason asked in surprise. "I wouldn't have expected to see you here, either."

            Jason reluctantly let go of Olivia and Nancy quickly took her hand, and the two of them briskly walk away from him. "That was close," Olivia breathed.

           After frantically searching around for Steve and the others and informing them that Jason was at the store as well, they immediately checked out their items and rushed back out to the trailer with their arms full of shopping bags.

𓆩♡𓆪

            Needing a space to prepare their weapons and gear, the group decided to park the trailer home in a vast green field. In the middle of the field, Nancy and Max were sawing the barrel off of the shotgun. A few feet away from them, Dustin and Eddie were tinkering with metal garbage can lids, making superhero-like shields out of them.The Sinclair siblings were sitting on lawn chairs making spears while Steve and Robin were sitting in front of the trailer home, pouring a kerosene fuel into a bottle.

After hanging out with Nancy and Max for a while, Olivia walked over to Eddie and Dustin and she smiled as she watched them pretend to play battle. "Here me now," Eddie's voice was an octave lower than usual as he extended his arm out and got into character. "There will be no more retreating from Eddie the Banished."

Dustin chuckled and stood up with him. "Hey, you're really ready for bat-tle," He grinned, chuckling proudly at himself. Eddie stared at him in silence. "Get it? Bat-tle. B-A-T," Dustin slumped his shoulders as Eddie gave him a deadpanned expression. "Liv, you get my joke, right?" He asked hopefully, turning to his side to face her.

"Yeah!" Olivia nodded with a giggle. "It's a good one, Dusty. Because we're going to be fighting off an army of bats. Duh."

Dustin grinned widely. "Thank you, Liv! See Eddie? She gets my joke," He exclaimed.

Eddie still stood there, arching his eyebrows at the siblings. Without a warning, he lunged towards Dustin and tackled him. Olivia rolled her eyes as she watched them began to wrestle each other. The two boys went into a hysterical fit of laughter, and Eddie turned to Olivia with a smile when the laughter died down. "Hey Lady Henderson, your brother's an amazing kid, you know that?"

"I know. I'm a lucky girl to have him as my brother," Olivia nodded without hesitation, earning her one of Dustin's famous toothy grins.

"Never change, Dustin Henderson," Eddie said seriously, turning back to him with a smile. "Promise me?"

"I wasn't planning on it," Dustin promised, his eyes darting back and forth between Eddie and his sister.

"Good. You know I love you, right?" Olivia smiled, ruffling Dustin's curls under his baseball cap.

"I know," Dustin groaned, but smiled at her. "You pretty much tell me that everyday."

"Well, it's true!" Olivia laughed at her brother as Eddie went to go check on Lucas and Erica. "You're my brother, Dusty. Quite frankly, I can't imagine my life without you."

             "Same here," Dustin agreed with another large grin. "Promise me that we'll stick together till the end? I mean, you better survive through this or else mom will kill me."

            While there was playfulness behind his words, Dustin meant what he said. He wasn't sure how he would go on with his life if Olivia didn't make it in the end. She was a part of him and he wouldn't be who he was today without her.

"Dusty!" Olivia gasped, pretending to look slightly offended and hit his shoulder playfully. "Wow, I know I've said this before, but I really just can't believe you sometimes."

             "You know I'm kidding!" Dustin rolled his eyes. "But in all seriousness, promise me that we'll stick together? Till the end?" He repeated more seriously this time.

            "I promise. Till the end," Olivia nodded. She scanned around the field and looked up ahead of her at Steve, who was already looking at her like she was the only girl in the world.

Dustin took a mental note of the small interaction between them and smiled. Olivia patted Dustin's shoulder before heading over to Steve and Robin's direction.

            "I have this terrible, gnawing feeling... that it might not work out for us this time," She heard Robin say uneasily to Steve as she approached them.

            "You're saying we shouldn't be doing this?" Olivia asked her, taking a seat next to Steve. "Rob, we've done this kind of thing before. Numerous times, might I add. And while this monster is something different, we still are kind of experts at this by now. We just can't loose our hope."

             "But Liv, we almost just lost you to Vecna," Robin reminded her. "Do you know how panicked I was when that happened? How panicked Steve was? You're my best friend, and I almost lost you if it weren't for Dustin finding your favorite song in time. I think we're mad fools, the lot of us. But if we don't stop him, who will?" Robin's eyes shifted to the scenery in front of them then turned back to the couple. "We have to try, right?"

           Steve grabbed one of the bottles of kerosene they had prepared behind him, and held it out to Olivia and Robin. "To killing Vecna."

            A smile spread across Olivia's face. "Slash Henry," She added, taking an extra bottle and clinging it with Steve's.

            "Slash one," Robin finished with a faint smile.