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warning:

buckle in

There were a lot of things that Maxine Grace Mayfield didn't know in this world.

One of them, of course, was still how Sam even knew Max's middle name to begin with. Sam did know a lot in this world, and Max was very aware of that. From the first time she met Sam, Max knew she was different when she started spewing out about time zones and video games.

Max didn't know a lot, but she knew about Sam.

Sam Hughes was funny, and she was kind, and she was smart. She somehow had the capability to make everyone around her feel warm inside, and Max was sure it wasn't even attributed to her empathetic abilities. When Max came to Hawkins, she was lost in the dark, but all she had to do was befriend Sam to find the light.

She had currently found the light now, in the comfort of Sam's bedroom.

Max couldn't help Sam's room from being Max's favorite memory — all of the best parts of Max's life had occurred here. Their first sleepover had gone down in a different room — considering Sam had moved after the fact — but being here still meant Sam and light. All Max had to do was imagine Sam's sunshine-patterned curtains; her pastel pink, yellow, and blue patterned comforter; her glow in the dark stars stuck to her ceiling — then, suddenly, Max was there. She listened to "Rhiannon" coming from Sam's cassette player, as it was the same song playing when all of Max, Sam, and El had their sleepover together.

Or, it was playing "Rhiannon." That was, until, "Dream A Little Dream of Me" started playing.

Suddenly all the happiness from Sam's room disappeared. The warmth turned cold. Everything good turned bad. Blood was oozing down the sides of her walls, covering the colorful wallpaper into nothing but red crimson. It stained Sam's sheets, her carpet, Max's shoes.

Since then, Max had tried to dull her panic to a low medium. Her head whipped towards Sam's closed bedroom door, and she formed a plan so quick that Sam would be proud. Max locked the door first, just in case Vecna's purview of powers didn't cover the capability of breaking open a door.

Then, she started barricading Sam's room with literally everything in the room she possibly could. Dressers, vanities, mirrors, desks, chairs, her mattress, everything. The floor of Sam's room was essentially cleared of all that was inside, except for the stool Sam used to reach the top of her closet with.

Max turned to pick it up from the bloodied floor. She turned back around to add it to the pile of things barricading Sam's door—

It was all gone.

Sam's door was replaced with an old, pristine door that harbored a stained-glass rose in the middle.

The door of the Creel house.

Max's breath caught in her throat, and all she could do was stare at the stained glass, terrified. The stool accidentally dropped from Max's hands when her grip went slack. Terror overtook her entire being, paralyzing Max in the spot. Suddenly, the door to the Creel house began creaking; Max could see the doorknob was jiggling.

Suddenly, a clock chimed. Outside Sam's window, a dark storm with red lightning flashed. The door cracked open with a low whine.

"You can't hide from me, Max..." the low, grovely voice of Vecna prowled from somewhere in the unknown.

Max was struck with the reminder to breathe, but it was a sharp gasping thing. She looked behind herself, only to find that Sam's room was completely cleared out now — it was just Sam's room with Max inside, and the walls were rotting now, blood tainting everything left.

Thunder crashed outside, and red lightning lit Max's face up, if only for a second.

Max tried swallowing her fear, she tried stabilizing her breathing again. Max's eyes fluttered shut, and she allowed her mind to wander again.

Sam trying to learn how to ride a skateboard. Lucas sneaking Max out of her house from the side. Sam protecting Max from Billy in the sauna room. Dustin hissing at Max to meet with him in the AV room at lunch. Sam worrying about spying on their friends when Max and El wanted to play their version of spin the bottle—

"You think I don't see what you're doing?"

Sam trying to get out of bed to answer her stupid Walkie. El wrapping her arms around Sam's torso and preventing her from doing so. Max joining them, throwing an arm and a leg over Sam's body.

"You think I don't see everything?"

Jason Carver cocking a gun in the Creel attic, lit up by the blue lanterns. Lucas holding his hands out in defense, pleading Jason to stop.

"You thought you could trick me?"

Robin and Nancy being pinned to the wall of the house in the Upside Down by the black, living vines. Dustin and Eddie screaming in terror at the Demobats threatening them.

"You thought your friends could stop me?"

Hopper being chased by a Demodog in Russia. Steve trying to hack Robin free with his axe, and Auggie trying to do the same to Nancy with the nail bat.

"I see them."

The Demobats flying into the trailer that Dustin and Eddie were supposed to be safe in, but were protected no more.

"I see your friends."

A tentacle latching onto Auggie's bad ankle, and the boy crying out in all-encompassing pain. The nail bat falling from his hands, the living vines dragging him away from helping Nancy, and he was being pried to the wall as well.

"Just as clearly..."

All of Auggie, Robin, Steve, and Nancy were being held against the wall of the staircase now. Dustin was back in the real world now, and for some reason the rope at Eddie's Gate was cut. He was screaming and sobbing up at it, begging Eddie to stop.

"...as I..."

Justin Zimmerman and Carrie Cunningham driving on their way to find Sam's location.

"... see you."

Eddie leading the bats away, sacrificing himself. The four, older teenagers, being choked to death. Sam's body in the real world, vulnerable in her trance, blood pouring out her nose.

"I can feel them," growled Vecna. "I can feel them... dying."

The clock chimed again. Max's eyes snapped open. The Creel door to exit Sam's room was now wide open.

"It's time, Max."

Max tried escaping Sam's now-desolate room, hoping she could find a way out of this waking nightmare like she had done so before. But "Dream A Little Dream of Me" was following Max as she jogged, in a warped tune like someone was slowing down a record player. Max ended up in Sam's quaint living room, but even that was destitute due to how Vecna was distorting her good memory.

Max turned in a circle, breaths speeding up in fear. She faced the kitchen which overlooked the living room, trying to think hard of that time she and Sam stayed up and baked a cake for Corey's birthday.

"It's time."

This time, Vecna's voice was coming from right behind her. Max whipped around in fear, finding that Vecna was right behind her. She screamed in horror, but she didn't have any time to defend herself.

Vecna stuck out a hand in the same way El did when she used her powers. Then, Max was flying in the air, backwards. She yelled and yelled and shot back and back. She continued being flown backwards until her back hit the wall of the living room. Max cried out in pain, her arms and legs pinned against the wall and her head being forced backwards. Everywhere hurt and her body was being strained and she was overcome with the strong urge not to die, but she couldn't do anything about it.

Vecna's thudding footsteps leered closer as he started to make his way to her. Max whimpered in pain, but it was all she could do with the way Vecna had her glued against the wall.

Max struggled, trying to pry herself off of Sam's living room wall. It was no use, and she was forced to do nothing by watch as Vecna stepped over her coffee table. Nothing could prevent Vecna from walking just inches from Max's face. Max, whose expression was wrenched up in fear, who tried turning her head as far away from Vecna as she could.

"You are brave, Maxine," he said. Vecna tilted his head at Max in that calculating way he was always using. Because of how Vecna was forcing Max against the wall, they were eye-level right now. Max sucked in sharp breaths and gasps. "Much braver than your brother. But in the end... you are weak — and fragile, just like him. Like all the rest of them. And you... will... break."

Vecna's body groaned as his arm started into motion again. Max's breaths grew even more rapid, more fearful, as she noted that he was bringing his long, clawed hand up. Against Max's will, her eyes rolled to the back of her head as Vecna's hand hovered in front of her face—

The presence was gone as soon as it came, and suddenly Max was falling off the wall in a heap.

Vecna was being flown across the room himself, hovering in the middle of Sam's living room; his posture was the same as the one he had forced Max into, except there wasn't a wall for his back to be up against. He yelled out in excruciating jittering pain, jaw chattering and buzzing.

Max's head turned upwards, and that's when Max saw it.

Sam Hughes and El Hopper had just shown up and saved her life — they were glaring up at Vecna with identical, terrifying eyes.

While El used her telekinetic powers on him with a hand sticking out, Sam was electrocuting him simultaneously; her fists were clenched at her sides, and her eyes narrowed up at Vecna past her flower crown. Blood was trickling down both of their noses, but nothing seemed to deter them in this point of focus.

Vecna panted and yelped, an electric blue field surrounding him and zapping him. Sam and El had snuck up behind, so with El's arm still outstretched, she used her powers to force Vecna's body to turn around and face the two girls.

"Y-You two," Vecna sneered angrily, jolting at the electrocution still.

El's look was unwavering. "Hi," she muttered.

"Get the fuck out of my house," Sam glowered.

Then Max watched as El threw Vecna out the back door.

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El ran for Max first, as Sam held back for just a second so that she could electrocute Vecna further. Max was still straining under the power she'd endured from Henry, so El helped Max stand up. Albeit, a very confused Max.

El held onto Max's shoulders, worriedly asked, "Max! Are you okay?"

Max panted, in and out; her eyes darted around El's face in bafflement.

"Huh?" she breathed.

"Are you okay?" El questioned again, pulling a face of the utmost concern.

"Yeah," Max panted. As El's arms moved down to hold Max's biceps, Max's hands clutched onto El's arms. One hand moved up to feel her head, her cheek, her face. "Are you... Are you real? D-Did I make you?"

El's gaze softened on Max. She moved her arms so that both of her hands were holding one of Max's.

"I'm real," she assured.

"How?"

"I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer," El answered blankly, ignoring the confused furrow of Max's brows.

Sam finally caught up to them then, interrupting the girls' moments with a small, playful smile.

"Yeah, it's confusing," Sam said lightly, "but she's here."

Max sucked in a gasp.

"Sam!" she muttered, and then Max was launching herself at Sam in a worried hug. Sam instinctively brought up her arms to return the embrace; with all the hugging going on as of late, she predicted it coming in the first place.

Sam held onto Max, tighter. "I like your happiest memory," she commented, only partially teasing.

"Your house looked a lot nicer before your evil uncle came in and ruined it," Max teased her right back.

Sam huffed, both amused and bemused. She said, "Well if I had a nickel for every evil uncle I had..."

Both Max and El got a kick out of that one. Sam squeezed Max firmly one last time before she was pulling away so she could get a better look at Max — if Vecna had done any damage to her, she was actually going to go insane on him. Luckily, Max physically looked fine, for the most part. On the other hand, Max was inspecting Sam, too.

Then Max's face morphed into utter fear.

"You've gotta get out of here, sunshine," Max was panicking now. "Vecna — I saw — He showed me — Justin and Carrie, they're on their way to you. Right now. You have to run—"

"What?" El questioned. "What's going on?"

Sam shook her head, rubbing the sides of Max's arms in an assuring manner. "Max, I'm not leaving you here. I'm gonna be fine, okay? We've gotta worry about you."

"Sam—" Max shook her head.

But then there was the sound of glass clinking together, pieces moving around. All three girls looked to where El had thrown Vecna out the back — they had shattered the sliding door made of glass. Seemingly, Vecna had recovered. He was walking through the piercing glass with a low, rumbling exhale.

Sam and El stood in front of Max protectively.

"Stay back," Sam said firmly.

Then, she and El were walking forward to meet Vecna again.

The three of them ended up in the middle of Sam's living room — Sam and El a few feet away from a glaring Vecna.

El seethed, "If you touch her again, I will kill you again."

"Is that what you think you did? Hmm?" Vecna asked. He tilted his head, vines on his body creaking as he did so. "Did you kill me? I am so glad you are here, Eleven. This... is going to be... beautiful."

Then thunder struck outside again, lightning flashed, and Sam had enough wit to be wary of what was about to come.

Vecna was suddenly raising all the shattered pieces of glass in the air behind him, pointing the shards at the two girls before him. Sam's breath was caught in her throat, as if there was already glass wedged inside.

"So beautiful," he emphasized.

And Sam was a quick thinker, but she didn't even need to think right now. Her powers were nowhere capable of stopping a million little, shattered pieces of glass from impaling her to death. Sam couldn't do much, so she just stood in front of Max and took a deep breath.

"And it's all thanks to you."

Then, Vecna sent the fragmented glass forward. It went flying towards Sam and El. Luckily, though, El did have the capability to do something about it. She swiped her hand to the right, and the shards of glass were redirected away from the girls. Like darts, they all lodged themselves into a family portrait of Sam, Corey, Steph, and Aunt Kat.

Sam's head was so captivated by that, that she didn't have time to register the fact the Vecna shot out his hand again. He sent El flying backwards, straight for the kitchen painfully. She was knocked out, quick, and then Vecna did the same thing with Max. Their bodies collapsed on the pots, pans, glass, and furniture together. Both Max and El, unconscious, in her kitchen.

Vecna took a step closer. Sam didn't fail to be vigilant this time.

Sam formed a ball of lightning in her hands quickly before she was shooting her hands forward, sending the electricity flying at Vecna. It hit him, shocking Vecna in more ways than one, and his deformed figure fell back.

"So, I take it you're angry with me," Vecna groveled, trying to recuperate from her strike.

Sam ran towards him, swarming up blue electricity around her. She slammed her foot against Vecna's stomach, reveling in the sickening crunch that came with his head cracking against her house's mantle. Her forearm was at Vecna's throat in an instant, holding him against the mantle as firm as Sam's young strength could find it possible. Blood dripped out of her nostrils.

"A little," Sam muttered lowly.

But then Vecna grabbed a hold of that arm holding him back and put it down back by Sam's side.

"Oh, Samantha," he mused, tiling his head. "Has anyone ever told you how alike you are to your mother?"

"Once or twice," Sam growled, trying to contain her anger. She eyed his deformed hand holding hers, let her head crane up to glare at him.

Vecna smiled, amused. "They never knew her like I did. You have the same mind, did you know?"

"Is that a compliment?" Sam asked. "Because she was smart enough to trick your dumbass from killing her."

"Once penned, an ending cannot be restored," said Vecna, confusing Sam further.

He squeezed her wrist tighter.

Vecna continued, "I was talking about your thoughts. All of these nice, happy displays the two of you would put on, just for no one to know how dark your minds truly are. Some kids just have tragedy in their blood."

Sam's face screwed up, trying not to be affected. She shook her head absentmindedly. "You just see the dark in everything. That's a fault of yours, not ours."

And Vecna was grinning again, and Sam hated it.

"You forget I've been in there, Samantha," Vecna peered his head down, speaking into her ear. "What would your friends say if they saw half of what I did?"

A blast of lightning threw Vecna off of Sam.

Sam felt at her wrist, riveting in the feeling of it being free from Vecna's demented grip. There was a faint wetness on her skin from the sliminess that came from her uncle. As Vecna began to stand back up, having to recover for the nth time, Sam saw it then — hell, she was an Empath. She felt it.

He was terrified.

Sam laughed, incredulously and hollowly.

"You're afraid of me," she realized. "You are afraid of what I am and what I have. And that pisses you off, doesn't it? It angers you to know what I am, you can never be. What you take, I predict. What you ruin, I restore." Sam felt the electricity running in her veins, she heard Lucas's voice in her ear, telling her to let everything in. Sam's eyes were overtaken by an electric blue, and her veins turned the same color. "I am your antithesis."

Vecna began to laugh, but it was a grovely sound. "You are nothing," he said scornfully. He stopped walking and nodded behind Sam as a whirring noise sounded from behind her. "Allow me to prove it."

Sam glanced around to see that Vecna was changing the scenery of Max's memory. A red fog was overtaking Sam's living room, and they were being transferred from Max's brain to Vecna's. It was his mindscape, with the broken Creel house and red all around.

Sam looked back toward him with a teasing smile. "Permission granted, Unc."

One day, Sam would start taking these situations seriously.

Vecna lunged.

He and his arms shot forward, and from behind Sam, she knew that he was calling upon his living vines. They rose from the squelching ground and started towards Sam. Sam ducked, and Vecna accidentally made them wrap around himself. She electrocuted the writhing creatures, panting in unison with her uncle. Vecna growled in anger as he realized Sam evaded his plan.

Sam didn't waste any time. She shot him with an electric shock this time, vines on his own skin charring. Vecna landed in the pool of liquid on the floor of his own mindscape. Red fog surrounded them, and there was a sudden realization by the both of them.

Sam was making his domain her own.

She slowly walked forward to him, staring down at the lowly Vecna. The flower crown remained on her head, and Sam knew in the back of her mind that there was some irony in that.

Sam electrocuted him.

"Saman—"

She did it again.

"You won't—"

Lightning coursed around her.

"Y-You won't win—"

It threatened to course around him, too.

"Listen—" Vecna tried, shakily standing up.

"I'm done listening to you." Sam swished her arm forward again, this time managing to rip a few of Vecna's tentacles running up his neck.

They did not grow back.

Vecna felt his neck as if he was Will sensing the Mind Flayer. His brows furrowed with confusion. "Why did that hurt?" he asked no one in particular. He lowered his eyes to Sam, and his confusion turned to fury. "What have you done?"

"The very thing you tried to keep me from doing," said Sam, icy-blue eyes glowing to mirror Vecna's own. Like uncle, like niece. "Now, hold still, Henry. Let me show you how alike we are."

Vecna made to raise his hand, perhaps to conjure more vines or attempt to throw Sam into another nightmare. Sam's hand shot out, gripping Vecna's wrist and twisting. The electricity around her transferred to him, and he was being electrocuted again. She leaned in to watch Vecna's discomfort turn to pain, turn to panic, as he struggled to free himself from Sam's crushing hold.

"Little spider," Sam whispered, "caught in your own web."

"You th-think th-this fazes... me?" Vecna demanded, still trying to pull his wrist away, still jolting from the lighting. "Do you th-think I'm — I'm afraid... of you?"

Sam looked at Vecna with the eyes of his sister taken too soon. "Yes," she said. "I think you are."

Vecna snarled. An animal cornered. "You forget you don't know what you're doing. You've tried to use your powers before. You've always failed. Always."

"But that was before I realized who I am."

I want her to know who she is before my family tries to tell her who they want her to be. She is better than that. She has better things in her than that.

Maybe she was preparing you, so that when you finally got to all of this, you'd be different than him.

"That was before I realized who you are."

Sam used her electricity to pin him against one of his own, destitute pillars. Its blackened color was only lit up by Sam's electric blue powers. Red lightning flashed ahead, but Sam paid no mind.

"You want us to think that you're doing all this — the killings, the chaos, this Gates — just for the fun of it that you want, but you don't really have the luxury of indulging yourself, do you? Because you're afraid. Every second of every day of every life, you are afraid. You've known me since I was born. You've known El since she was made. You've known since our first breaths that we were the only people capable of breaking you. And before I could even try, could even understand what these abilities were, you ran. You pretended it was all some silly little game to you. You couldn't stop your heart from exploding out of your chest with fear, and you ran. You sculpted worlds, monsters, and dimensions, just to keep us from seeing you squirm. Because you're a coward. That's what you are, Henry. You're a goddamned coward."

"Take that back," Henry whispered. "Take that back... right now."

"Make me," dared Sam. "Oh, wait, you can't—"

But then a gunshot rang out.

The mindscape faded around Sam.

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Sam heaved in a large breath, her subconscious rushing to her; before she knew it, the void was no longer. She ripped the camouflage bandana right off her face quickly, heaving in and out with rapid pants.

Sam had heard a gunshot. She heard it. It wasn't coming from the void, it was coming from the trailer.

But right now all she could hear was Journey on the radio.

"Just a small town girl
Livin' in a lonely world..."

Sam didn't understand — there was a cold constriction of her chest. Something bad was happening, yet she knew, but her brain wasn't working quick enough to catch up. She grappled blindly for the gun Nancy had purchased for her; Sam set it right next to her before she went in the void, but for some reason, her hand couldn't latch onto it right now.

"Stand up, Sam," a stern voice ordered.

Sam's heart dropped.

She looked to the side.

Justin was pointing Sam's gun right at Sam's head.

Carrie was right beside him, arms crossed.

"She took the midnight train going anywhere..."

"No," Sam let out a weak breath, but it wasn't a protest. A plead, maybe. The foolish and naive desire that this couldn't be happening — that this wasn't her situation. Justin and Carrie weren't here, they didn't want to hurt Sam.

Her head looked over her right shoulder.

There was a hole straight through the stolen trailer where the bullet penetrated. The bullet Justin shot.

"Just a city boy
Born and raised in South Detroit..."

"Get the fuck up, Sam," Justin ordered, holding the gun firmer.

And at fifteen years old, Sam Hughes was the oldest she'd ever been. But she'd never felt so young.

"Wait a second," Sam begged, holding her hands up on either side of her head to signify innocence. She dropped the bandana from her hand without realizing. She couldn't focus on anything but the all-encompassing fear that could be felt from being under gunpoint by her cheating ex-boyfriend.

"You're not making the calls here," Justin sneered.

"He took the midnight train going anywhere..."

He jolted forward in a way that terrified Sam to her very core. Complying to Justin's wishes, Sam shot up out of the driver's seat and stood to face him.

This couldn't be happening.

"What the fuck's been going on here, Hughes?" Justin asked. Hughes had never sounded so ugly.

Sam shook her head, face screwing up; she wasn't usually a slow thinker, but Justin had the power to get that part of her out.

"Wh-What are you talking about?"

"My sister!" Carrie cried. Sam could immediately feel the mental instability wafting off of her. "You and your little cult killed my sister! And Fred! And Patrick!"

"A singer in a smokey room
A smell of wine and cheap perfume..."

"I'm not in Hellfire!" Sam argued back, for maybe the millionth time in the past week. "And if I was, Hellfire still wouldn't be responsible! Why... Why would you think I'm involved in this?"

Justin's lip curled cruelly, and Sam watched his fingers twitch compulsively on the gun. "I think you've been involved with a lot of stuff for a while. I don't know how I was dumb enough not to work things together until now."

"For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on and on and on..."

Sam, still with her hands in the air defensively, shrugged like the answer should be obvious.

"It's like you said, isn't it?" she breathed, raising an eyebrow. "You're a stupid ass jock who depended on me to lend you brain cells—?"

Carrie lunged for her.

Another gunshot rang out.

"Strangers waitin'
Up and down the boulevard..."

At first, Sam didn't feel anything. All she knew was the fact that she was being tackled downwards, back slamming into the floor of the walkway in the trailer. Her flower crown flew off her head, and Sam knew once more it was another metaphor for innocence being lost.

"Their shadows
Searchin' in the night..."

Sam cried out at the force of Carrie Cunningham attacking her with such ferocity, or maybe she was crying for some reason else entirely. She immediately tried scrambling away, stupidly attempting to head to the back of the trailer. Carrie's hands latched onto Sam's ankle and dragged her back. Sam could fight, she knew she could, but for some reason Sam's morals wouldn't compel her to touch a hair on even Carrie's head. Carrie tormented Sam for years, and yet, even when Sam's life was on the line, she was too caring to return the malice.

"Streetlights, people
Livin' just to find emotion..."

Carrie forced Sam up into a sitting position, her back up against one of the kitchen cabinets in the trailer. Sam's head whipped to the side hurriedly, only to find Justin was standing a few feet away; he was still aiming the gun right at Sam. She looked back forward, wheezing out with an aching burn in her lungs. Carrie had one hand around Sam's neck, pinning it against the wooden furniture. Sam blinked, and her vision was blurry, but she sluggishly saw Carrie's other arm was moving. She pressed that hand against Sam's right shoulder and Sam screamed.

Sam's head whipped down to find that her clothes were being coated in throbbing red blood. It was sourcing from her shoulder, which was numb in mind-altering pain. Her mind was hazy, and so was her eyesight, but Sam had enough sense to figure out that she had been shot. She had been shot by Justin Zimmerman with her own gun.

"Hidin' somewhere in the night!"

He had shot her.

She was losing blood, quick.

"W-Wait," Sam slurred, trying to breathe. "Just... Just wait."

Sam couldn't move her shoulder, not even if Carrie wasn't pressing her down. It hurt, and the gunshot filled her arm up with lead. Every breath was a pained wince.

"What the hell were you just doing?" Justin glared from behind the gun. "With that blindfold over your eyes?"

"Justin, please," Sam wheezed out, arms grappling up to help Carrie apply pressure to her shoulder. Carrie still had another hand around her neck, and everything was at a constant state of hurt.

"Workin' hard to get my fill
Everybody wants a thrill..."

"I'm not fucking around Sam, what's going on here?!"

He pulled the trigger again to the right Sam, just for emphasis. Just to scare her. The bullet shot straight through the window; glass shattered and fell atop Sam's head. Her face wrenched up and Sam choked out a dry sob.

Would it even matter if she made it out of here? What would be left of Sam if she did?

"Payin' anything to roll the dice
Just one more time..."

"You want the whole truth?!" Sam snapped warily, steadily growing unstable. "My mom is actually the sister of the interdimensional wizard who killed Victor Creel's family and now he's back, killing innocent teenagers so he can open Gates and destroy the entire world!" Then, "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Justin startled, for just a second, but then his eyes narrowed into a glare again.

"You're insane."

Sam's head fell back onto the cabinet tiredly, miserably. Justin was the one who just shot her, Carrie was the one pinning her bleeding body backwards, and yet somehow, Sam was the crazy one here.

Sam contemplated what it would be like to just... close her eyes. She was so tired. Maybe she should just go to sleep.

"Some'll win, some will lose
Some are born to sing the blues..."

Some kids just have tragedy in their blood, Vecna had told her. Giving in would just prove him right, prove that she and her mom were only dark on the inside.

Carrie's grip pressed harder, and tears that Sam didn't even know where there fell down Sam's cheeks.

Sam's head lazily turned from Justin to Carrie. The sight of Carrie made Sam tear up even more.

"Woah, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on..."

Sam sucked in a shaky breath, mouth ghosting words out. She eventually manage to murmur, "I'm — so sorry about Chrissy. I'm so... so... sorry, Carrie." Her voice cracked, and a new emotion was emitted from Chrissy. Suprise, maybe. Out of bewilderment, her grip on Sam's neck and shoulder strengthened. Sam gasped, but continued, "Chrissy was nice. She was — really nice. Every time she had an... an... an announcement about the ch-cheerleaders for.... us to say, she'd come into the AV room and ask how we were."

"Strangers waiting'
Up and down the boulevard..."

Sam let out a laugh, but it was barely a puff of pained air. She immediately winced at the pain the notion brought. The agony intertwined with the emotion Carrie was feeling. Justin shouted something angrily, but Sam ignored it.

"She brought us muffins," Sam rasped out. "Sh-She was always so kind to us. And one time I — I caught her in the bathroom..."

"Their shadows searchin' in the night..."

Sam was suddenly struck by overwhelming coughs that made her shoulder scream in more pain. Some blood came out of her mouth as she did, and in the back of her mind, Sam knew that couldn't be good.

Still, she continued.

"Sh-She was... throwing up. She was — in so much pain. I know it — it w-wasn't my place but I t-told Ms. Kelly — I was just — I was just worried about her," Sam wheezed again. Carrie's hand was around Sam's neck, the other atop her shoulder, but she wasn't applying pressure anymore. A lone tear fell down Carrie's cheek and Sam heard Justin exclaim something to Carrie about snapping out of it. "She d-didn't deserve that — She never deserved any of... that. I was" — Sam coughed up blood again.

"Streetlights, people..."

"I was trying to help. I'm — I'm always fucking trying to h-help, I can't — I tried, Carrie — I tried s-so h-hard. I'm — so sorry."

"Livin' just to find emotion..."

And Carrie was just staring at Sam, for a second. Sam was staring at her, too. Tears were an ebbing thing down both their cheeks, although the wetness of Sam's face could also be attributed to the blood. It was running down her chin, dripping our her nose, and flowing from her shoulder. The girl before Sam was a blurry sight, and Sam knew not even her glasses could help with that.

"Come on, Care, don't tell me you believe this crap," Justin scoffed. Sam suddenly was reminded of his presence, and the threatening gun. "Sam's always been so full of bullshit."

Sam huffed out a broken and wheezy laugh before she was wincing again.

Carrie finally broke her gaze from Sam, staring contemplatively at Justin.

"Hidin' somewhere in the night!"

She shook her head.

"No," Carrie faltered. "You are."

Then she wheeled around and jumped straight at Justin.

The second Carrie's pressure was off Sam's, Sam snapped into motion, too. She pushed past the pain and ignored the sounds of Carrie and Justin tussling before her. Sam didn't have the strength, she could only crawl, but she wasn't about to waste her only moment. She couldn't even find time to be surprised at what Carrie Cunningham was doing, she just stretched forward.

"Don't stop believin'!"

Sam's hand latched onto the gun like second nature. Justin was cursing wildly as Carrie grappled with him; the football player fought the cheerleader and the wounded blonde was trying her best to stand up.

"Quit fucking being a bitch!" Justin roared. "Carrie, what the fuck?!"

"Hold on to that feelin'!"

Justin's elbow swung back, knocking Carrie in the nose. The two of them landed in a heap on the two stairs that led to the front of the trailer. Sam tried to blink past the blurriness, past the tears; tried forcing out the agonizing pain and the soaking blood. She still couldn't move her entire right arm because of the wound in her shoulder; her left hand had to hold the gun. It wasn't her dominant side, but Sam didn't have any other choice.

"Justin," Sam managed out, barely even a whisper.

Justin stopped trying to fight Carrie. He faltered, head turning to the sound of her voice.

"Streetlights, people!"

"Get the fuck out of here," Sam re-cocked the gun and pointed it right at his head with just one hand. She nodded to Carrie, said, "You and Carrie."

If Sam was distracted with Carrie and Justin, she couldn't help Max. She couldn't help El. Sam was vaguely sure only her electric powers could overpower his, and now Sam was gone, and she was terrified what was going on in her absence.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Justin stuck his hands up, eyes wide in fear. "Don't... Don't shoot. Please."

Sam intended to scoff, but she was weak, and it sounded wrong even in her own ears.

"Why not? You shot me."

"Don't stop believin'!"

Justin shook his head, sneer returning. Carrie's eyes were magnified too, and she was soaking in the entire sight of Sam — her entire body coated in blood, the way she held the gun with ease. She was product of their own evil, and Carrie was learning right in this moment what guilt was. It occurred to Carrie that she had never felt like this until now.

"You're fucked, Sam," Justin spat. "Whether it's by me, or by Carrie, or by the town, you're fucked."

"Hold on!"

And although Sam hadn't heard it in a while, she could hear Uncle Dan's voice ringing in her ears. Samantha is a fucked up bitch who only hangs around boys like a slut!

Her left hand curled around the gun, tighter.

"Streetlights, people!"

But then there was another noise, resounding in Sam's ear. Another, familiar noise that Carrie nor Justin could hear — that made Sam's chest constrict upon hearing it.

The chiming of a grandfather clock.

It rang four times.

Sam's entire will of being quaked.

"Don't stop believein'!"

Max Mayfield was dead.

After as hard as Sam tried, after as much Sam foretold the opposite, in the end, Max Mayfield was dead. Sam knew it, she could feel it. It hurt more than the bullet wound in her shoulder, more than the biting cold in her chest. It hurt more than anything. It felt like waiting in the hospital for Hours, only to find out her parents were dead the entire time. It felt like spending days trying to keep everyone in the hospital safe, only for Bob to die right before her eyes upon Sam's fault.

It felt like hope dying, just like what happened to everything else Sam loved.

Max Mayfield was dead.

"Hold on to that feelin'!"

Sam wasn't there to save her.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously back on Justin.

Sam wasn't there to save her because of him.

"Streetlights, people!"

The ground rumbled beneath them, confirming the one fact that Sam's hazy mind still couldn't grasp. Max Mayfield was dead. Dead, dead, dead. Sam didn't know why she was surprised — Max was Max, and Sam loved her, and what other ending could be bestowed upon Max because of that? Sam was like a disease, everyone that she loved, she touched. Everything she touched, she killed.

Throughout Hawkins, four Gates opened up.

"Wh-What the fuck?!" Justin cried.

Carrie looked around wildly, the floor jolting beneath her body. Everything in the trailer was being thrown around. "What the hell is happening?"

The sky was red. The grass was dying. There were four chimes of a demented clock. Max Mayfield was dead because Samantha Hughes was stopped from saving her by Justin Zimmerman. The (life-altering) facts of life.

And when Justin didn't understand something, he got angry; he got angry and lashed out like he was Corey Gray at eleven-years-old. He roared something about killing Sam, and he threw Carrie backwards. Sam registered then, that he was jumping forward to actually try and kill her.

Then Sam understood what Vecna was saying all along.

"Once penned," Sam said shakily, angrily, "an ending cannot be restored," and she pulled the trigger straight through Justin's brain.

He went limp, rendered dead finally.

Sam didn't hear the bullet, she didn't hear the sound of her own breathing; she could faintly hear Carrie screaming, but the sound was overpowered as the earth began to shake.

Tears streamed down Carrie's face, mixing with Justin's blood that had splattered onto her. She gaped, closed her mouth, gaped, said, "S-Sam, y-you just—"

"He killed Max first," Sam choked out. Nothing felt real.

Carrie tried to take a confused step closer to Sam, but then she was collapsing to the ground quickly. Sam's vision obscured, and she realized she was falling to the ground, too.

Only a few yards away, the Gate to Eddie's trailer was opening up. It all went according to the vision Vecna. The ground of the earth crumbled as the red look took everything over — black vines crawling out from it. Four drawings. Four kills. Four Gates.

End of the world.

"C-Carrie, I mean it, you have to get out of here," Sam gasped out. The blood was spreading, and so were the Gates. She met Carrie in the middle, stretched over Justin's corpse. Blood poured from both of their noses, now. "It's not — safe."

Carrie's eyes were wild in disarray. Justin was dead, and the Earth was quaking, and everything was going wrong, and nothing could be comprehended. Her hands had been cupping Justin's face, tears falling down, but she whipped her head up at Sam begging.

"No, Sam," Carrie gulped dryly, "Sam, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for — for everything. Middle school, high school, J-Justin. All of it."

They could hear the sound of trees falling to the forest floor. They neared closer as the Gate affected the greenery around the hidden trailer.

Carrie sadly promised, "I won't let the town do anything to you. I won't tell them what you did. I-I screwed up, okay? I know. I didn't understand — I never understood—"

Out of the shattered window, a red glow lit up the night sky; Sam threw her body over Carrie's body and Justin's corpse protectively.

"G-Get out of here, Carrie," Sam ignored her. "While you still can."

Carrie's apology was falling on deaf ears. How could she care so much about girlish drama right now? Max was dead — Sam's best friend was dead. The end of the world was here. Sam just killed a person. She felt as numb as her shoulder.

Carrie shook her head. The earth shook louder. "I'm not leaving you here!"

"Just shut up and go!" Sam snapped desperately.

Max was dead. The end of the world was here. Sam just killed a person.

But the dimensions continued to converge.

It was about time the Gates reached the trailer.

Carrie screamed in utter horror, a shrieking sound that ended the ringing in Sam's ear. Sam's head whipped to look at what Carrie was looking at, but the speed made her head spin. The wound in her shoulder was spreading, and the trailer was being split straight in half by the Gates. The world was caving in.

The back half of the trailer got sucked in completely by the black, living vines excreting from the Gates. Debris fell into the bleary red below, but maybe it appeared that way because Sam was slowly losing vision entirely. She could've sworn there was screeching inside the Gate, but it was still just Carrie's frightened yelling.

Sam felt paralyzed in shock.

Max was dead. The end of the world was here. Sam just killed a person.

"SAM, WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?!"

"Wh-What?" Sam coughed, a little more blood falling out.

At Carrie's exclamation, Sam realized her eyes had accidentally fallen closed in exhaustion. The pain was getting to her, seeping into her very soul; it wasn't just anything physical, anymore. That desolated, dead hope had taken over Sam's mind and body and heart.

Max was dead. The end of the world was here. Sam just killed a person.

She opened her eyes, and she saw it too late.

The living vines were snaking over to them.

"Carrie, you..." Sam was starting to realize it. She wasn't going to make it out here alive. There were only a few moments left. "You have to tell Lucas — You have to tell Lucas. Tell him. You..."

As Sam let out a pained breath, her eyes instinctively fell shut again. For some reason, Carrie began screaming louder. Sam saw a blurry figure of Carrie trying to leap towards Sam.

But a vine wrapped itself around Sam's ankle. But she couldn't fight it off this time. But she was so tired of fighting.

It tugged, and Sam's body was pulled down under.

The last things Sam could think of were her words to Max before it all went black.

Both of us or neither of us.

◦☆＊★ ━━━━━━ ★＊☆◦

um...

if i said i was sorry would anyone believe me?

no? ok

um

let me just get into the author's notes....

starting off the chapter with a max pov! and the first thing she talks about is sam! and sam's house is her happiest place ever! samax nation i wrote that scene for YOU!

i imagine the scene of el and sam showing up and kicking ass is SO BADASS AND COOL ASF! elsam? samel? hughper? idk but theyre MY supernatural gfs and theyre protecting THEIR not-supernatural gf

last samax hug :'( and it was max trying to warn sam to leave the void. AND SHE DIDN'T LISTEN BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO PROTECT MAX. AND SHE DIDN'T END UP BEING ABLE TO DO THAT IN THE END, ANYWAYS. SO IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING

sorry im getting ahead of myself idk what came over me..

SAM GETTING HER REVENGE ON EVIL UNCLE VECNA!! IVE BEEN WAITINGGGGG!!!!

think of this as the "percy fighting ares" scene! in a sense (?)

"so i take it you're angry with me" why was that... funny.... vecna how dare u make me giggle.

and then sam hit him with the "ecause she was smart enough to trick your dumbass from killing her" oh they're actually so related gn

DUMBLEDORE IS THE ONLY ONE VOLDEMORT EVER FEARED, AND SAM HUGHES IS THE ONLY ONE VECNA EVER FEARED!!

sam ATEEE with the "you're afraid of me" monolgue OMGGG. WHY DID THE ANTITHESIS LINE LOWK GO HARD?

"permisson granted, unc" BE SERIOUS.

"Sam was making his domain her own." OKAY WE'RE SERIOUS.

and sam finally realized who she is. she finally realized she could end this. she finally became okay with the fact she was going to have to kill vecna. she finally made him squirm.

but then a gunshot rang out.

stream "don't stop believin'" ig??

i just thought the lyrics were like really ironic to each line that proceeded/followed. and journeys also plays at the end of "love in the air, flowers in her hair" with "seperate ways" so like. idk. epic journeys final moments.

JUSTIN ZIMMERMAN WHEN I CATCH WHEN I CATCH YOU JUSTIN ZIMMERMAN SOOSJGFKDLGJDLGJHL

YOU DARE SHOOT MY GIRL, MY PRIDE AND BEAUTY, SAMANTHA HUGHES??? LEAVE HER SHOULDER ALONEEE

this is worse than jason fighting lucas oml i want to kms

then i'm gasping??? carrie cunningham learns empathy from samantha hughes??? omg????

she tackled justin for sam??? OMG???

justin with the AUDACITY to ask sam not to shoot him. he's lucky it wasn't the FIRST thing she did.

and then the clock rang four times.

IM GOING DARK IM GOING EMO DONT HMUUU

IM SORRYYYY

BLAME JUSTIN NOT MEEEEEE

THERE WERE TOO MANY PARALLELS IN THERE TOO THAT KILLED ME. IDK WHY I WROTE THAT. MY FINGER SLIPPED I SWEAR. I'M JUST A GIRL. I WAS JUST IN A SILLY GOOFY MOOD.

"Once penned," Sam said shakily, angrily, "an ending cannot be restored," and she pulled the trigger straight through Justin's brain.

LJSFDHGKLJHD THE MOMENT WE WERE ALL WAITING FOR?!?!?! HELLO???? DID I JUST WRITE SAM HUGHES KILLING A PERSON???? HI????

Justin Zimmerman you are dead to me (physically and mentally).

ive never been prouder of sam. even if thats going to fuck her the fuck up. ive never been prouder.

carrie just completely having a change of heart. i have mixed emotions?? idk

"you have to tell lucas" TELL HIM WHAT???? SHE HAS TO TELL LUCAS WHAT???

and then she fucking gets pulled down under with an untreated gun wound.

she took "both of us or neither of us" fr didn't she...

um

im sorry (again)

i understand there's probably a lot of confusion and unanswered questions rn...

last chapter of this act is next and its gonna be the 2 day time skip??? does that make anyone feel better???

no? ok

i'm really scared to ask this but

what'd you think?