A GUARDIAN ANGEL

☀︎

THE SUN BEGAN TO RISE IN HAWKINS AND MAX MAYFIELD WAS KEPT AWAKE THROUGH THE NIGHT. On rotating shifts, the group took their turns staying awake with her to ensure her safety from the dark hold Vecna had on her. Yet with every rotating duty, Alex stayed awake with them with the inability to fall asleep in fear of what the nightmares would bring her.

As the sun slowly approached the sky, Alex began to feel her eyelids grow heavy, begging for a moment to keep closed and give her mind a rest. Already falling asleep on his shift, Dustin snoozed peacefully, propped up against a cabinet with bits of drool escaping the corner of his mouth. As for the others, they were sprawled around the Wheeler's basement with the intention of waking up with a new set of plans to seek out Vecna and rid Max of this curse once and for all.

Keeping her headphones sat against her ears, Max gave a soft sigh to be left to silence once more. It was peaceful but she could only wish she could sleep like the rest— no music, no curse, no fear of dying. Pulling the blanket up higher on herself, she rewound her music tape once again as her eyes traveled across the room. Being with this group meant more to her than anything, she was glad they would be there in these final moments. However as her eyes sat on Alex, that bittersweet ending turned into something beyond bitter.

Everyone in the room worked to right their wrongs and even through the difficult task of reconnecting, they all managed. For Robin, it was effortless, easy and it was as if nothing had happened. For Dustin, he waited for those sweet moments with his sister, and breaking his silence, he found himself back in her life once again. Max knew Steve and Alex were one of the more rocky relationships that had fallen apart and came back together whether they were fighting, bickering, or falling back in love. For now, they took over most of the couch, Steve's arm draped around Alex and the more she allowed herself to fall into a deeper sleep, Alex snuggled deeper into him, her arm laid across his waist to make sure she never lost his touch.

For Max and Alex, they continued to fall further apart and soon enough there would be nothing left to salvage. There was something about the two that prevented them from finding one another through the darkness. Whether it was the man that's very existence threatened Hawkins or their stubborn attitudes, there was something that kept them further apart than they ever had been.

There was a moment when Max felt that maybe she had done it— fixed her mistake and got Alex back into her life. When she had narrowly escaped death and awoken to Alex's hand find it's way to hers, the moment felt right and now it only felt lost again. As if it never happened. It was only an opening and the two did nothing to keep it that way.

As Max was about to look away from the one she lost, there was a single moment that caused her eyes to find their way back. It was a flinch that disrupted Alex's small moment of sleep. That flinched across her face caused Alex to pull her arm off of Steve as she shifted against him, agitated with the demons that haunted her.

Knowing that pain, Max let the blanket fall back down onto her lap as she leaned over with a hand extended toward Alex. Waking her meant that for once Max could save her for once. However the flicker of the light above them had Max paused, hand held just inches from Alex as her eyes shifted upward. A soft whimper escaped Alex's lips while she was lost to another nightmare, but the world around was what caught Max's attention. The light above and the few lamps that sat within the room began to rhythmically pulsate across the room and Max's heart sank afraid of what horrors were to come their way this morning.

Then with a click, Max's heart came to stop as her tape halted its rewind. In just a split second, her favorite song had erupted in her ears at full volume. Knocking her headphones off in surprise, Max fumbled for her Walkman pausing it before the others had woken. As she paused that noise, the room returned back to its dark state and silenced air. It was as if nothing happened.

Breathing heavily from the sudden scare, Max shot her eyes over to Alex who began to sit forward, holding her head with panted breaths, awake and free of her nightmare. Every bit of exhaustion the two shared was ripped away from them as now all that mattered was their fears.

Lightly dabbing under her nose with the sleeve of her jacket, Alex leaned down below the couch and grabbed the Tylenol that sat within her backpack. Pouring a few pills out for herself, she grabbed ahold of her water to wash them all down.

Unable to take her eyes off of her, Max attempted to contain her composure as her eyes danced across Alex. "Nightmare?" She questioned her with a small voice, afraid of the events that only she was there to be made aware of.

Alex gave a small nod as her eyes traveled over to Max's. All she wanted for the two was to be back to how things were before, unwilling to hide anymore. Being able to see her now allowed her to see all the pain Max went through and she only added to it when she left.

The opening between the two was slowly closing since yesterday and for once the two were left alone. It was never a more perfect moment to take that opportunity. Shifting her eyes off of Max, Alex nervously wiped at her face as she opened herself up a little more to this life. "Can we go upstairs and talk? I just... I don't want to wake them and I think we should figure this out... us. Figure us out."

Max felt that the wind was knocked out of her to hear such a thing. Some part of her felt she didn't deserve Alex's time— what she did felt unforgivable. Whether or not it would end in hurtful words or a hug, she needed to close this chapter of her life. Placing her feet onto the ground, she tossed the blanket off of her, giving Alex the confirmation that she was willing to talk.

Coming up from the Wheeler's basement the sound of Ted Wheeler's snored floated down the stairs— no sight of anyone awoken so earlier into the morning. Heading towards the kitchen table, they sat further away from one another, Max sitting on her hands as she kept her eyes trained on Alex, watching as she anxiously played with her fingers.

For a few moments, there was nothing but silence between the two. Alex searched for the right words to say but whatever she felt she had to say was never going to be good enough. Max felt the guilt weighing on her every second and as she looked over at Alex, all she could see was the way she held her hand after narrowly escaping death. The way it comforted her made her sick knowing what she did to Alex, exposing her to all their friends when all she needed was someone to love her like Max needed love as well. "What did..." Max paused as she swallowed hard, resisting the urge to ask Alex
of the events in the basement before she woke. Instead, she decided their relationship deserved to be fixed first. "What I did to you, it was extremely shitty of me. I'm awful."

Dropping her hands down into her lap, Alex furrowed her brows. No matter where they stood, hearing Max talk down to herself never sat well with her. "No. No, you did what you thought was right. I-I kept lying to you and... and you had no option other than to push. Frankly, I needed that push."

To hear how Alex was still herself— forgiving and understanding— it hurt Max more than anything. She was still the same person she loved and she hurt her in an unimaginable way. "You never would have done that to me. Never. You wouldn't have even thought about it. You would've kicked everyone's ass if they tried that kind of shit on me."

Alex met Max's eyes, but couldn't disagree. There was nothing in this world that would give Alex that opportunity to ever hurt her like that. Still, she understood why Max felt the need to do what she did, and though it was hard to forgive and forget, she was willing to do so for Max. "It doesn't matter what I would do. All you wanted was the truth and that's what you deserved. It's what everyone deserved actually. And I was just... just so afraid of hurting everyone, especially you. So I kept lying. Every day." Breathing in, Alex closed her eyes for a moment. Being honest and open was something she continuously worked on after months of shutting herself away.

Opening her eyes, she met Max's eyes. No matter how much it hurt her to say what she felt, she knew she owed it to Max. She owed her more than that but this is all she had. "After Billy died, I blamed myself entirely. I think I just thought everyone wanted me to be like El and have these kick ass powers, but I don't. Not even then either. That night I wish I could have been her. Maybe then I could've saved him, gave him a chance and I didn't. I tried to pretend I was okay with it and that there was nothing more I could have done, but holding it all in, I don't know... it made things worse and I shut out everyone because of it. I was afraid I'd hurt everyone else too."

Max bit the inside of her cheek, unable to find the words to fight Alex because if she did, she knew she would crack. Had she begun to let her emotions get the best of her, it would allow Alex to fall apart next. Staying strong, each of them kept their eyes on one another, swallowing down their tears and fighting to be there for the other.

Reaching out, Alex held her hand out, wishing for Max to take it. "You can tell me it's crap but that's how I felt and how I'm probably going to continue to feel for a long time. I left you. You were right, I knew something was wrong with Billy and I chose to pretend that it would all go away because I was scared. And now I'm scared. I'm scared of losing you, losing any of you guys, and I'm terrified of Vecna. Whatever he is or whoever, he's made life hell for us. But now I don't give a shit if I'm scared. I'm not losing you and he's not making our lives hell. You're my sister and I'd go against the worst for you."

Taking her hand out from underneath her legs, Max hesitantly reach out and placed her hand in the safety of Alex's. Giving her a warm smile in return, Alex hung her head in embarrassment at her confession to Max. "I couldn't look at you because I felt what happened with Billy, it was unforgivable. You were there and you had to watch everything. And I had nightmares that made me feel like a burden where everyone blames me, hates me. Dead or alive, you're all there just waiting for the moment I die and end the suffering. I guess now knowing it could all be Vecna... it gives me hope that I can make things different." Feeling her lips threatens to spill into a frown, Alex forced herself to keep strong as she squeezed onto Max's hand. "We can be different."

Holding on tight, Max felt that confidence she needed all this time to be sure things would work out for them. All of this was Vecna's doing and they all fell into his trap, letting themselves fall apart and open themselves up to him. "We're going to be," she assured. "No more lying, no more fighting. That was never us and we won't let it be. Screw Vecna and screw every shitty thing in between."

"Screw them," Alex laughed. That break of comfort was enough to wash away the tears that built up and she finally sighed in relief. "Honestly, Max, since day one you've been my personal guardian angel. Now I think it's my turn to save your ass for once. I mean, technically I did go up against Steve for you."

Scrunching up her face, Max couldn't help but laugh. "Right, because he's such a great fighter," she remarked sarcastically. Looking up at Alex, she couldn't help but feel her smile grow to see Alex laugh with her. Like things were back to normal. "And you and Steve, you two seem great now. I heard you two had a fight but, uh, you guys seemed pretty close on that couch."

"Yeah, we had a little fight before you decided to take flight to the sky, but it was just a bunch of pent up emotions finally breaking out. I mean, we're not together or anything. I think we have a lot more to work through."

"Well don't hold back so much. Everyone can see how madly in love you two are."

"Sort of like you and Lucas," she teased. "And how exactly are you two doing?"

"He's not taking it well," Max said as her eyes traveled down to the table. Lucas continuously fought for her, wishing she could see how he loved her endlessly and Max gave him nothing much in return. It was all to protect him from what she felt and the things she went through, but he didn't care, he felt he didn't need that protection when he loved her so. "I think the letter really sent him over the edge. Sort of made him see how real this is." Clearing her throat, Max pulled her hand off of Alex's as she gestured to her. "Which all of it was really stupid of me. I was... I was scared but you can throw it out. I didn't know I'd have Kate Bush to back me up when I wrote them..."

"It wasn't stupid," Alex whispered. It pained her to know what Max wrote, but it was a way for Max to be able to cope with what events Vecna had in store for her. It was her way of expressing how she felt and giving one final piece of herself to everyone she loved. Alex knew that better than anyone. Reaching into her jacket, Alex extended an envelope to Max with a half-hearted smile.

"You didn't read it, right?" Max questioned nervously as she extended a hand out and took the envelope for herself.

"No, of course not," Alex chuckled. "You're not dead, are you?" Holding onto her smile, Alex kept her eyes on Max as she pointed to the envelope. "That's actually not the one you wrote me. It's mine... mine to you."

Finally taking in what she held in her hand, Max could see the difference. Rather than Alex's name scrawled across it, it was her own. Eyes shooting up to Alex, she awaited a reason. From this end of things, she could see how cruel it could be to hold something so sensitive.

"I wrote that earlier this year and before we came here, I grabbed it from my house so you could see, you know, you're not alone. It's not stupid. I used to think about the future and what it'd be like, where it would be, who would be there, all of that, and these past few years, the future started to sound scary because it felt less like the future and more like a dream. A lot of things changed too," she chuckled. It wasn't simple changes, rather they were life changing. And it was enough to completely change the way Alex viewed her life.

"One second I imagined I'd be in a battle wondering if I'd end up going to college with Barb and Nancy or Jonathan. And Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Mike would be playing D&D in my basement when I finally move out. Then, you know, things changed, and I thought for sure Jonathan and I would be going to college together and I'd find some boy at college to fall in love with. Then the next second I thought Steve is my future, you, El, and all those knucklehead boys would be the reason I came back to Hawkins and I'd finally leave here and have a place so far away with Steve and Robin." Pausing, Alex's eyes seemed to be in another world, so lost in what used to be her old plans. "Now... now I don't know if I see a future. At least, I see it for others, I'm just not there. Now I like thinking of everyone else happy. It's what I want for my future and I figured letters could keep a part of me with all of you."

"We don't need the letters," Max whispered, holding on tight to hers. Now she felt that misery of feeling she would lose someone she loved. It's how they felt when she gave them her letters, only seeing them so hurt was nothing compared to how it truly felt. "I don't want this."

"Do whatever you want with it, it's yours," Alex offered. "All I ask is that if anything ever happens to me, they're under my bed in a box. Just, um, please give them to who they belong to."

Max's breathing grew heavy as a realization hit her. Alex had written letters for everyone she cared about long before Vecna had infiltrated Hawkins. Feeling the tears begin to spill, she gave a nod as she quickly wiped them away. "Nothings going to happen to you," she whispered, wishing her words into existence. "I won't have to do that."

"But if something does happen, you need to know. There's one for everyone... even my mom, the Byers, Dr. Owens, Ms. Kelley, and... and this is really stupid, but there's one for Hop. So if you could... if you want you can read it, but then toss it. He won't get a chance to read it anyways." Forcing herself to smile, Alex watched as Max placed her letter into her jacket with a small nod. She wished she didn't have to agree but again, she knew Alex would do the same for her.

Swallowing hard, Max rewiped away the tears that spilled over, clearing her throat. "I need to know you're never going to lie to us again. Ever. I need you to swear on it."

"Never again," Alex whispered. It was a promise she desperately wanted to keep. There was no reason to run and hide because they were always there and the truth always did end up coming out. Now they were in dire need of nothing but the truth. No more lies.

Nodding her head, Max had to trust Alex's word. "When are you going to tell them you still have powers?"

Alex raised her brows in surprise. "Powers? You mean my one-day powers?" Managing a laugh, Alex shook her head. "I don't have them... at least I-I don't think I do, I haven't tried."

Max's eyes traveled all over her face, trying to search for the reason that Alex could have any reason to lie to her. Yet she sat there and spoke nothing but the truth. "Have you... have you not seen it? That night we found Eddie, you opened that door, I thought it was just a coincidence and... and just now..." Max leaned forward in bafflement. "You fell asleep down there and... and I could tell you were having a nightmare and that's when weird shit started happening. The lights, my music... it had to have been you, right?"

Alex's eyes shifted over Max's in confusion. "Huh?"

Sitting back in her chair, Max's gears continued to turn in her mind. "Holy shit, do you realize how amazing this is? You can kick Vecna's ass since El doesn't have her powers anymore! I mean, you clearly need the practice but this is life changing."

Placing a smile on her face, Alex did her best to match Max's excitement through her faked enthusiasm. "Yeah, yeah, that's great." Holding her smile, she turned her eyes away to mask the disappointment she felt in herself. "I'm just not... not entirely sure how to do any of that."

Scooting her chair closer to Alex's, Max placed her hand on her arm, "Then we can figure it out together. If we can just figure out how you can control it, we could totally take him on. And if we ever get ahold of El, he stands no chance."

Alex's eyes slowly turned over to Max's, her smile beginning to fade. "I barely know what I'm doing now. Just being a normal human being, I'm sort of failing at. Not sure if I'd be as impressive as you're hoping I'll be."

Refusing to believe that, Max pointed a finger down to the table. "No, you kick serious ass, Alex. Vecna's not gonna stand a chance if he messes with you." Eyes shifting over Alex's shoulder, Max's hand fell down into her lap as she cleared her throat. Glancing over her shoulder, Alex watched as Holly's pigtails bounce as she hopped her way into the kitchen with Mrs. Wheeler hot on her tail. Spotting the two girls, Mrs. Wheeler glanced at each as she perked herself up and tied her robe together. "I-I'm sorry, we just assumed everyone was still asleep."

Flashing a tight-lipped smile, Max fell back into her shell and placed her headphones around her neck. "We're early birds."

Mrs. Wheeler's eyes shifted between the two seeing that Alex nodded her head, the next to retreat back into her shell as she turned back to the table, playing with a loose thread on her jacket. "Oh, well, okay then," Mrs. Wheeler said quietly. Holly soon came bouncing around the table, her Lite Brite in her hand as she made a new home for herself at the table with the two. "Would you two mind watching Holly while I go freshen up really quick? As soon as I get back down here I'll throw together a nice breakfast for everyone."

"Oh, Mrs. Wheeler, you really don't have to do that," Alex said softly. Meeting her eyes, Mrs. Wheeler felt her smile falter for a moment. All summer she had an unspoken hatred for the girl sitting before her all because of Billy Hargrove— because she was jealous. Yet it had been months after Billy's death and Alex retreated into a shell and Nancy missed her friend, no bad blood between the two like Mrs. Wheeler assumed. Now that jealousy seemed to be a thing of the past and her anger felt wasted on something so meaningless. "No worries," she managed to get out. "I hope you still have a love for pancakes because that's what's on the menu this morning."

"I-I do," Alex said as she exchanged a glance with Max. Nodding her head confidently, Mrs. Wheeler dismissed herself and left the two girls with Holly. Biting her bottom lip, Max looked at Holly with narrowed eyes as a plan began to develop in her mind. "Hey, Holly, you think we could borrow some paper and your crayons. Alex and I... we love drawing."

"I'm terrible," Alex whispered over to Max nervously.

Scrunching up her face in annoyance, Holly pulled her attention off her Lite Brite and hopped down from her seat. Disappearing into the other room to retrieve those things, Max turned to Alex quickly. "I can draw what I saw... the place Vecna didn't want me to see. Maybe what we saw looked the same."

"Okay," Alex began to question curiously. "But I saw Hawkins and I've never seen Vecna."

Pausing, Max looked to Alex, untrusting to her word. A promise was made that Alex would never lie and lead her astray and Max was forced to believe this to be the truth. "What do you mean? You said you saw things. Wasn't he there?"

"No... I don't think," Alex whispered nervously. "I don't know what I'd be looking for to know it's him though. What does he look like? Is he cute?"

Mouth falling agape in surprise, Max slowly sat back into her chair as she narrowed her eyes at Alex. "Is he cute?" She repeated back to make sure what she heard was the truth. Eyes turning over to Holly returning with their supplies, Max shut her mouth, sending an annoyed glare at Alex as she took the art supplies from Holly and thanked her. When Alex began to look back at her, Max leaned forward to keep the conversation between the two. "No," she snapped under her breath. "He's more creature than man and... and he has no nose, okay?"

"Gross," Alex whispered in disgust as she passed over the paper to Max. However, Max didn't seem entirely convinced that Alex was taking this as seriously as she hoped. "And one hand is bigger than the other and he's made of these... these vine things. He's far from cute," Max whispered harshly.

"It was just a question," Alex said defensively. "Imagine if he was cute though, I think that'd make it kinda bad."

"No, it wouldn't be bad," Max whispered. Cracking open the crayon box, she shook her head in complete disbelief that she was genuinely curious what Alex meant by that. "Why would it be bad?"

"Because then he could seduce us," she stated obviously. "I mean, if Johnny Depp told me to join him, I'd ask where to sign up. If it was a creep asking me to join him though, then give me my favorite song and I'll run away too."

"Alex, shut up," Max interrupted.

"Robin would agree with me," she whispered as she took the paper for herself. "It doesn't matter anyway because I don't get to see Vecna. You do and you saw some weird stuff in his little red fog world he created in your head. I, on the other hand, touched you and saw absolute hell."

"Which, again, points to you having some weird connection to all this."

Raising a black crayon into the air, Alex never took her eyes off the paper, "Which must be why I'm not a pretzel seeing this noseless man. Why though, I have no idea." Furrowing her brows, Alex gave a shrug in thought. "Maybe he thinks I'm the cute one and he's afraid if I see him I'll be so disgusted he'll be embarrassed."

"I don't think that's his main concern," Max commented quietly. Scooting in her chair, she took a red crayon for herself as she began to draw the very hell she saw. "But, who knows, a lot of people love you, maybe he feels the same as all of us."

Alex poked her cheek with a crayon as she looked at her drawing. "That'd be kind of good, right? I see a broken man and my first thought is, I can fix them."

"Then fix him," Max suggested through a broken smile. Focusing on her drawing, Max replayed the horrors she escaped from the second she was taken— everything she saw that lead her to the red fog. Her breathing began to increase as she thought about Alex's words and her greatest trauma. "Did you... did you think you could have fixed Billy?"

Glancing over to Max, Alex pulled another crayon for herself before continuing with her drawing. "I don't know. He got mad whenever I didn't say the things he wanted. Maybe he just wasn't used to being denied so quickly, but I don't know. I think if anyone was going to make him into a better person, I would've said it was you."

Max stopped drawing as she kept her eyes focused on Alex. "You really think that? I was a shitty sister."

"And he was a shitty brother," Alex laughed. "I really don't know, Max, I mean you knew him better than me. We just didn't know each other all that well, but through super conflicting moments I wanted him to be a friend. I always believed in people getting a second chance, so you know, I might have people judge me for letting him have that after what he did, but I gave him that chance to fix things. Mostly because you deserved better. Maybe me forgiving him would allow him to realize you're not a shitty sister and he doesn't have to be a shitty brother."

"Why do you forgive people so easily? I-I'm still not even sure you should forgive me."

Alex smiled as she continued drawing. "I don't know," she laughed. "I don't like feeling angry and sad all the time. It's been exhausting these months just feeling that. Now that I can talk to all of you guys again, I guess I remembered how good it feels to laugh and joke around. It's been so long. And, you know, I always hope that if I can forgive I'll have something better. Look, I forgave you and we're back. Back better than ever."

Max furrowed her brows together, still unable to understand how she can be better. A chance with Billy was lost, never to have that chance return, and with Alex, she almost lost it all the same. "And if they don't come back? Then what? Am I supposed to keep forgiving? Because that's shit."

"Then you let go, I guess." Holding up a crayon, Alex quickly corrected herself. "However, some people are such assholes, you should never stop giving them hell. For me, that's Tommy H. and Callahan. They're such assholes, I'll never let them forget it."

Finding herself laughing, Max couldn't understand how someone so hurt could find humor in such dark places. "What if you don't want to let them go? Like if someone kept hurting you but you loved them, you didn't want to let go, then what would you do?"

Alex turned over to Max with a suspicious smile. "I'm not a philosopher, Max."

"Yeah, but you tell it how it is. If you did to me what I did to you, I wouldn't let it go. I'd kick your ass and never forgive you no matter how much you tried to fix it. You didn't and I wanna know why."

"Because I love you," she stated as if it were so obvious. "And if you don't want to let them go, then go ahead and try again, but if they screw you over and it's doing nothing but hurting you, end it. I've done it before and it feels shitty at first, but I knew I deserved better." Turning her eyes off of Max, Alex smiled at her paper. "I don't know if I'll ever see my dad again, but, you know, I decided it was better for me to let go than wait around. It'll always hurt, Max, but it's better than waiting around for someone that'll never show."

Max's eyes slowly drifted from Alex's to hear her become so open. Alex and Dustin never talked about their dad, it was as if he never existed. It truly made her feel that maybe she and Alex were more alike than she thought. "I wrote a letter to my dad," she admitted. "I don't know if my mom'll be able to find him and get it to him, but I thought it was worth a shot." Pausing, she found her eyes drifting back towards Alex. "Did you write one to your dad?"

"Oh, no," Alex sighed as she shook her head. "I don't think I'd have anything to write to him, you know? What would I say? That I'm exactly what he expected out of me? All he ever said was that I was too much to handle, for some reason a little too different for his liking. It'd just be full of hate whatever I had to say. I'd just tell him that everything he said never mattered because my mom loved me and I had Dustin. I made friends this time around and I have a family in them. I have kids that can annoy me one second and then hug me the next. A boyfriend that actually loves me despite the shit I put him through and best friends that act like I'm individually married to each of them. And I have Joyce, who treats me like a daughter when he couldn't even do that. Or that I put all my love for a father into Hopper and... and he's dead and I'd do anything to have him back over my own father."

Pausing Alex tapped her crayon against her paper as she thought over her anger and how pointless it all seemed to be. Holding onto an anger towards someone who didn't think twice about her seemed so pointless. "But what would that get me? It's not revenge because I don't think he'd give a shit. If he was here, he'd tell me I was the curse, everything Vecna did, it'd be my fault. I mean, he's why I hate myself sometimes, Max. I'm not giving him any more of me. Sometimes letting go is better."

"Sometimes," Max uttered. Turning her eyes towards her own paper, she shook her head at that wasted rage she set on people who didn't matter "I'm glad we moved to Hawkins. We might die by the end of today or even tomorrow and still, I want to say screw our dads, I'd take this over them."

Alex couldn't help but laugh. "Screw them."

Max smiled, watching how Alex could carry such a conversation and still work on her drawing. Shifting in her seat, Max focused back on hers, wishing to be the very same as her. Putting her headphones over her ears, Max felt that she learned something and how to carry herself. All that ever mattered was the people she had and loved because, at the end of the day, they were there for her. They were the ones sprawled across the Wheeler's basement, resting for another day to fight for her to see another day. And it was Alex, a sister she always wished she had that gave her advice and shared a piece of herself in order to help Max grow. That's all that mattered, not the anger.

There was a silence as Max worked and every now and then she'd sneak a glance over to Alex and have to stop and smile. Having her back in her life changed things for her. They were able to fall so effortlessly back into themselves once they talked and there was never bad blood left behind. The anger she once had was washed away the moment she decided to let it all go and make things work.

Even with Mrs. Wheeler's return to make breakfast and Mr. Wheeler now buried in today's newspaper, Max kept drawing. With every drawing coming to an end, she shifted it over, making room for another. Sneaking a glance at a picture that was pushed closer and closer to her picture, Alex set down her crayon as she put her attention on it. Hearing the faint sounds of Max's music coming from her headphones, Alex saw it was fine to take a look herself and moved the picture closer for a better view. Swallowing hard, her eyes stayed on the main focus of the picture— Chrissy and Fred entangled in the world Vecna created.

Feeling the weight of a hand on her shoulder, Alex finally pulled her eyes away as she looked over her shoulder. With a relieved smile, Nancy's worries washed away to see that Max and Alex were okay and found their comfort in one another, safe from Vecna and his pull. Shifting around in her seat, Alex spotted Dustin approaching behind, calming his nerves after falling asleep during his shift of watching over Max. "Hey, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. We woke up and you guys were gone is all," Nancy spoke. Standing up from her seat, Alex felt immediate guilt, "Oh, sorry. We should've woken you up... we just... we wanted to talk."

Shaking her head, Nancy took away her guilt. "No, no, it's fine." Peering over Alex's shoulder, she caught sight of the pictures that littered the table. "You guys were busy, I see."

Perking up, Alex turned back and grabbed ahold of her picture. Keeping it out of Nancy and Dustin's view, she held it to her chest as a smile began to spread across her face. "We were drawing what we saw and... and it's a little spooky. So prep yourselves."

Coming to Nancy's side, Dustin furrowed his brows in worry. Whatever she drew, he was vastly unprepared for. Whatever it was, it was meant to be the future. Holding his breath, he kept his eyes trained on the paper as Alex turned it around for them to see. For a moment, he scrunched up his face, turning his head to the side in wonder. "What is it?"

Disappointment filled Alex's face as she looked over to Nancy who had been equally unimpressed. "I-I'm not sure..." Nancy whispered with narrowed eyes focused on the picture.

Raising a finger to her drawing, Alex tried to explain herself. "See that, it's those monsters. And-and that one, its mouth is huge and he's super big, a giant. And there's the storm cloud and the cracks in the world and... and..."

Biting down on her lip, Nancy shook her head. "I just don't see it." Leaning forward, she hoped a closer look at the picture would give her something to understand. Raising a finger to it, she pointed to a figure she sort of made out. "Who is that?"

Raising a finger, Dustin gave it a go at giving his guess he was confident was correct. "That's Vecna."

"N-no, that's me," Alex frowned. "That was really mean, man, come on."

Growing red, Dustin held his hands up in defense. "I-I'm sorry, I couldn't tell. You... you look great."

Crumpling up the paper, Alex let out a heavy sigh. "It doesn't matter. Just forget about it. We're not letting that come true so no point in even attempting to draw it."

"Come on, Alex, that was... it was good," Nancy said hesitantly. "I just think stick figures are more for you is all."

"I hate you both," she stated. Making her way around the two, she headed for some food rather than listen to their critiques of her drawing. Accepting a plate from Mrs. Wheeler, Alex looked back at her brother in annoyance, "You don't realize how hard it is to draw your nightmares, dude. It's hard, like really hard."

"Oh, yeah, of course. Except I'd be able to make sure you could tell the difference between me and a horrible creature."

"Don't listen to him," Mrs. Wheeler smiled. "I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this."

Unamused with the children that filled his house, Mr. Wheeler finally pulled his eyes off of his paper for the first time this morning. "Could try sticking together at a different house for a change."

Narrowing her eyes at her husband, Mrs. Wheeler soon shifted to a smile as she pointed a spatula at both Alex and Dustin. "You know you two are welcome anytime. We love having you guys over."

"Totally. You're like family," Dustin agreed. Taking Alex's plate out of her hands, he politely thanked Mrs. Wheeler for a wonderful breakfast before heading to the table and leaving Alex with empty hands. "Boys," Mrs. Wheeler scoffed, playfully rolling her eyes and holding out another plate to Alex. "Help yourself."

"Yeah, why not? Take us for all we're worth," Mr. Wheeler grumbled before taking a sip of his coffee.

Smiling uncomfortably, Alex looked over at him as she placed another pancake on her plate. "Thanks, I will," she said with a smile and nod in his direction. Turning on her heel, she made her way to the table as she joined in on the conversation between the three. Placing her plate beside Nancy, Alex stood beside her, resting against her chair as she looked down at the drawings scattered around.

"Do you think Vecna's just trying to scare you?" Nancy questioned Max. It seemed to her to be reasonable to ask given both Fred and Chrissy experienced fearful scenarios just before their own demise. The red fog, she thought, must also be a trick to frighten Max enough to get ahold of her.

"With Billy? Yeah." Keeping her eyes on the pages, Max looked over the landscape she saw and the words Vecna spoke. None of it seemed intentional. "When I made it here... I don't know, something was different. Like he didn't want me there."

"Maybe you infiltrated his mind," Dustin theorized. "He invaded your mind, right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his?" Grin creeping to his face, Dustin sat straight as his eyes shifted to Alex in pure excitement. "Like Freddy Krueger's boiler room."

Listening in on the conversation, Holly finally pulled her eyes off of her Lite Brite. "Freddy Krueger?"

"He's a super burned up dude with razors for fingers. And he kills you in your dreams," Dustin gushed excitedly.

Leaning forward, Alex wrapped her arms tightly around Nancy and rested her chin on top of her head. "Except Nancy. He tries but she's way too smart for him, just like our Nance." Squeezing her eyes shut, she held on tight to Nancy. Smiling, Nancy laid a hand over Alex's arm and gave it a few pats. "Very sweet, but seriously, guys? Come on."

"Sorry, it's a movie," Dustin quickly corrected his wrongs. However, Holly was now on edge, glancing over at Nancy anxiously.

Pulling her arms off of Nancy, Alex kept her hand on her shoulder, never breaking Nancy's touch. "Remember when you said we're Glenn and Nancy? Because I do. It wasn't just a movie to you then."

"Until you told me Glenn dies," he announced loudly. Waving his hand at her, he disregarded her nasty look sent to him. "Doesn't matter. Just think about it. What if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to Vecna's world?"

Narrowing her eyes at the table, Nancy shook her head. "What if she didn't?"

"Are you saying he wanted me to see this place?" Max asked, unsure if she was recalling the events she saw correctly. To her, Vecna was confused, almost upset that she stumbled into the red fog.

"No, no." Patting Alex's hand that rested on her, Nancy looked around the group. "I'm saying maybe someone else opened it without even realizing. You guys said it took Alex touching Max when she was under Vecna's curse to lose her too, right? What if when she grabbed ahold of Max, she somehow opened up that door for Max."

"First, that's suggesting I can do such a thing," Alex interrupted. "Second, that would mean I led Max to Vecna, which I'd never do."

"No, he followed me there and he... he didn't want me there— he question why I was there, how I got there. It could be a long shot but let's say that's true, why?" Max asked, looking to Nancy for an explanation. Knowing there was still some sort of power in Alex, it didn't feel too far off from being the potential truth, but there seemed to be no reasoning for her to come across the red fog landscape.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Nancy looked down at the papers that covered the table. This area of Vecna's mind seemed to be a puzzle, one she was in need of solving. There was a reason Max ended up there and there was a reason Alex was connected to it. Picking up a piece of paper, Nancy held up the one with the door with a stained glass window— a rose sitting front and center. "Because it gave us some answers," she mumbled. "I've seen this door before." Pursing her lips tight, she observed the other pages and how perfectly they all synced together with the image in her mind.

The red fog truly was one big puzzle, just broken apart. Willing to piece it all together, Nancy took the pages laying around, folding them and connecting them all as she felt her heart race with excitement. "I-I don't know everything, but Alex, you are connected to all this somehow. I mean, technically you always have been. I don't know if it's Vecna or the Mind Flayer or a piece of the Upside Down left inside of you, but this is all you, I just know it. Vecna shared the future he saw with you and maybe for that moment he connected his mind with yours and you opened this place up. You opened his mind up to Max." Laying out the pieces, she connected them together into one big picture. Reaching out, she took a marker, tracing it over for a better view of what the entire image was.

Leaning over in her seat, Max narrowed her eyes at the picture. "It looks like a house."

"Not just any house." Laying the final piece— the doorway leading into the house— Nancy let out a single breath of air. "It's Victor Creel's house."

Looking over Nancy, Alex grew uncomfortable as she looked over the drawing of the house. "I saw this," she whispered. Nodding her head, Nancy looked up to her with a smile, "Yeah, at the library."

"No," Alex whispered as she bit her bottom lip in thought. "Vecna showed me this place in his future hell. Only it wasn't so put together. The one I saw was tearing apart— tearing in half."

"More of a reason to check this place out," Nancy whispered as she turned back to the drawing curiously. "We need to figure out why Vecna is connected to the Creel's, why he'd kill them and why it was important enough to be in that red fog place Max saw and why he'd show it to you in the future. There's too many unanswered questions about this place."

"So we set ourselves back about... a million steps with this information," Alex mumbled. One new piece of information always had them adding more questions to their list with only a short amount of time to figure it all out.

Sitting back in her seat, Nancy looked from Max to Alex with a shake of her head. "No, you two are the reason we have this bit of information— intentional or not. And even if it's giving us more questions, it's also confirming that this house-- it means more to Vecna than the Creels." Standing up, Nancy was eager to get the information out to the others. "We can use this now. Let's go get them up and we'll fill them in on this doorway Alex opened."

Holding up a finger, Alex gave an uncomfortable laugh. "Wait, wait, uh, no. I-I mean, this is groundbreaking information, but we don't know for a fact that it was me. I can barely open up about my feelings, there's no way I was able to open a doorway for Max to walk into Vecna's mind."

"It's just a theory," Nancy stated quickly, but there were no doubts in her mind. The way things were lining up just made sense to her. Taking the lead, Nancy ushered them along back to the basement to deliver their news. Whatever happened between Max, Alex, and Vecna, Nancy was determined to get to the bottom of it. Her determination to find those answers was just the opening Vecna needed to take a dive into the mind of Nancy Wheeler, saving her for the day he was ready for his voice to be heard all because of a single touch.