035 | papa

STEVE HAD HIS HANDS ON HER cheeks, tears welling up in his eyes as he realised this may be the moment he loses her.

He knew her favourite song, take my breath away by Berlin and even though he tried to sing it, the words didn't sound the same.

He was yelling up to them, his voice hoarse as he tried to tell them to hurry up. Dustin was in the other room, panicking as he knew his sister could die.

He was trying to find alternate favourite songs but Eddie didn't have the same music taste as her.Β 

In the upside down, Vecna was showing Bea his plans for the future and it showed her the world overtaken by the upside down, Hawkins split in half by a gate, her family, Steve, her friends. All dead.

"Tell Eleven, everything," he said and she woke up, collapsing into Steves arms.

"It's okay, I'm right here, I'm right here baby," he said, holding her on the floor as she sobbed into his shoulder, not sure what else to do.

β˜†β˜†β˜†

Thursday, 27th March, 1986

BEA SAT ON THE COUCH IN MAX'S trailer next to Steve, his arm protectively wrapped around her. He wasn't letting her go and time soon.

"He showed me things that haven't happened yet, the most awful things," she explained, eyes welling wuth tears, "I saw a dark cloud over Hawkins, downtown on fire, dead soldiers, and this giant creature with a gaping mouth and there was an army of monsters,"

He could tell it was difficult to talk about, "It's okay," he said, gently rubbing his hand over her shoulder.

"Then he showed me my mum, Dustin, Steve, all of you guys, and the Byers and El and even Hopper, and you were all-" she couldn't finish her sentence, looking down into her lap.

"He's just trying to scare you Honey, I mean it's not real, Hoppers not even alive," he explained, looking down at her. He wanted to hold her forever and keep her safe, to never let Vecna get ahold of her.

"There were gates, four gates, spreading across Hawkins and they looked like the ones by Eddie's trailer but they didn't stop growing. It was our Hawkins," she explained.

"Four chimes," Max said and everyone turned to her, "Vecnas clock always chimes four times,"

"He's been telling us his plan the whole time. Four kills, four gates. The end of the world," Lucas stated.

The room was quiet, nobody quite sure what to say as they realised he was only one kill away from the end of the world.

Max went back, trying to call the Byers again but it was a busy signal again. They bickered, Steve trying to figure out why they wouldn't answer.

"We have to go back in there, back to the upside down and kill him," Nancy said and Bea nodded, agreeing with her.

"We weren't prepared. We'll get weapons and protections. Find his lair and kill him," Bea suggested, the group bickering.

Dustin suggested that because they know Els weakness', it could be the same for Vecna, that if he's remote travelling then he'll goΒ  into a trance like state and they can kill him then. Dustin devised a plan to distract the bats and kill him.

"There's no method to the killings, we don't know when he's gonna attack next or who," Robin tried to explain and Max interjected, saying he'd attack he'd next.

They all crowded around the table as Eddie explained about the war zone that he'd found in the magazine, explaining he'd been there once and it was huge and able to kill things.

"We need the weapons so it's worst the risk," Nancy said.

"But is it worth the time, it'll take a day to bike there and back," Dustin explained.

"Who said anything about bikes," Eddie said and everyone turned back to him, "Its not really a car and not mine but uh, it'll do,"

Eddie asked Max for a mask and she leant him her mask from Halloween, 1984 and they all snuck out, Eddie jumping into one of his neighbours caravans.

They all jumped in after him, locking the door as Eddie got into the front seat, beginning to hot wire the car.

"Where'd you learn how to do this?" Steve asked as he leant over his shoulder, Bea close behind him.

"Well, when the other dads were teaching their kids to fish or play ball, my old man taught me to hot wire," he said before the car started.

"Eddie, I'm not sure if I love the idea of you driving," Robin said as she walked over, joining the group.

"Oh I'm just starting the sucker, Harrington got her, don't ya big boy," he said with a smile before starting the car.

Steve jumped into the front when the owners began to bang on the window, "Everyone hold onto something," Steve yelled out and Bea jumped into the passenger seat as they began to drive away.

When they made it onto the main road, everyone calmed down and managed to get stable seats.

"Okay, I'm sorry but why did you call my sister your fiancΓ©e?" Dustin asked, getting up and standing between the two.

"I proposed in the upside down," Steve stated with a nonchalant tone.

"You proposed? To my sister and she said yes?" Dustin questioned, his brows furrowed as he realised what was going on, "I thought you were just gonna ask her to buy a house together,"

"Yeah well, I thought about it and I decided I wanted to marry her and she said yes," Steve was almost in shock that he said yes but he had a wide grin on his face.

"Wow, so you're officially gonna be my brother now," Dustin said, a smile on his face as he realised his big sister was going to get married.

"Yeah, and be prepared for some nieces and nephews in the future,"Β he said and the boy groaned, turning around to sit down.

"It's funny, but I always dreamed I'd have this really big family,Β  I'm talking like a full brood of Harringtons," he explained.

Bea smiled, they had talked about their future before but Steve had never mentioned this, maybe the potential death of them both brought it up.

"Like six, eight kids, an even number," he said and she chuckled.

"Six?" Bea asked, almost shocked but she had a wide grin on her face, she wouldn't mind six kids with Steve.

"Three girls, three boys, spread over 10, maybe 12 years and every summer I figured all of us Harringtons we would pack into something like this and just see the country, the rockies, grand canyon, maybe yellowstone," he explained.

He was smiling as he looked at her, because she was the girl he wanted to share it all with, the girl he wanted to have his own Brady Bunch with and she wanted the same thing.

"We'd end up in some beachside town in California, spend a week in the sand, learn how to surf or something," he said, turning to Bea, "And now, now I imagine it all with you,"

"That sounds perfect Steve, even the six kids part," she said, reaching over to place her hand on his thigh.

"Well we have some practice with all those kids," he said and for a second, they could imagine their future together without these issues

She leant over, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. In the back, Dustin smiled at the conversation, realising how happy his sister was with the idea of this huge family with Steve.

She was worried about Max, horrified that she wasn't going to make it out. Max had already gone through so much and Bea hated to see her upset.

They walked into the war zone, Eddie parking in the back and Dustin staying with him, "So much for avoiding angry hicks," Robin said when she realised how crowded it wad.

Bea walked over, grabbing a gun, a .357, and holding it in her hands, weighing it around. She payed for it, sighing as she realised how much of her weekly pay she'd wasted.

She walked over to where Steve and Robin were, the girl staring into the distance. Bea ollowed her eye line to see Vickie, the girl she had a crush on, kissing another guy.

"Robin," Bea said and the girl ran off, leaving her and Steve alone. She wanted to follow her but then Erica ran over, telling them that they had ro go.

They ran back in, Steve and Bea jumping into the front seats as they explained that all the basketball players were there.

They drove to an empty field, getting ready for the fight ahead of them. The group separated out and she sat with Robin and Steve.

She looked into the field, watching as Dustin and Eddie played around. She was glad her brother had found such a great friend like Eddie. Bea had known him a bit at school but they weren't close.

"It just doesn't make sense, that was Dan Shelter, he graduated like two years ago," he explained.

Steve poured the kerosene into the bottle using a funnel, handing it to Robin who played a rag in it and then to Bea who added it to the box.

"He's in college which means he's back for spring break. Fast Times was returned two weeks ago," Steve explained, "Unless she's got some horndog brother,"

"Steve," Robin said, cutting him out of his conversation, "I don't understand why you care, I don't care. In the face of the world ending, my love life feels like a low priority," she said.

Bea and Steve looked at each other before she turned back to sort out the bottles, they were lethal molotov cocktails that didn't need much to set them off.

"Not everything has a happy ending, you two seem to be the only freaky happy couple in this town," she said and they laughed.

Bea and Steve were happy, in the best place in their relationship in a while and she just wanted to survive so she could marry him and they could live a mundane life.

"I just, I have rhis terrible gnawing feeling that it might not work out for us this time," Robin explained, the three falling into silence.

"You think we shouldn't be doing this?" Bea asked, holding the funnel still as Robin poured the kerosene in.

"I think we're mad fools the lot of us but if we don't stop him, who will," she said and they looked out at the happy scene in front of them.

Once they were finished, they all packed up their gear, driving through town as the sun set.

It was silent, everyone was mentally preparing for the battle ahead of them. This was Maxs life they were playing with, and the fate of the world.

Steve looked over at Bea, wanting to look at her one last time because if they didn't made it through this, he didn't know what he would do.

He loved this girl more than anything in the world and as they pulled up to the Creel house, he could see her leg shaking and reached a hand over, resting it on her thigh.

She looked over at him, a half hearted smile on her face as she looked at her fiancΓ©, the love of her life. They were going to make it, they had to make it.

They stopped and everyone began picking up their weapons, heading towards the door.

"Max, you come back home okay," Bea said, taking the girls hand in hers.

Max smiled, "I'll try," she said. She saw Bea as a second sister, someone she could turn to if she needed her and now, she had to go out on her own.

Once Max, Lucas and Erica left for Crewl House, they kept on driving, the silence even worse as they realised they were separated from the other, meaning anything bad could happen to them.

2115 words

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