[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗩𝗘: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗔 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗝𝗘𝗖𝗧]

"HEY, UH, HENDERSON?" STEVE SPOKE up, following behind dustin.

"yeah?" dustin asked. "could you maybe, uh, clarify what sort of clues we're supposed to be looking for here?" steve asked him.

"the world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes," dustin told steve in a english accent, smiling at him while the older teen stares at him, unamused. "sherlock holmes," the henderson teen tells steve in his regular voice now. after no response, the teen scoffs.

"that's great," steve finally spoke up. "thanks. that's great. really helpful. sherlock . . ." steve's eyes land on a vent near the toilet as him and dustin were in a bathroom.

the harrington teen kneels down, ripping the vent off, and reaches his hand slowly into the small compartment, grabbing a glass jar that was inside along with many more glass jars. steve eyes the jar, flashing his light over it to see what was inside the jar.

steve then finds a black widow on his shoulder and jumps up, accidentally dropping the jar, causing it to shatter, and moves back into a spider web, almost bumping into nancy.

"woah, woah. hey, what's wrong?" nancy asks steve, noticing his panic. "there was a spider," steve replied. "what?"

"it's a black widow," the harrington teen told her then shut the door to the bathroom. "don't go in there," steve informed nancy.

nancy then notices a bunch of webs on the back of steve's head, on his hair.

"oh, oh,"

"what? is there something?"

steve walks over to the nearby mirror to check what nancy was looking at.

"stop. i just . . . i got it. i got it." nancy followed him and began to take out the webs out of his fluffy brown hair. "thank you,"

"if there's a spider, you're never gonna find it till it lays eggs and the babies spill out," robin says as she walks in. "what's wrong with you?" steve asked the buckley teen, hearing her chuckle as she walks past the two. "robin, seriously,"

"she's got problems," steve whispers. "tell me about it," nancy whispers back in reply. "it's cool you two are, like, friends now. maybe after we find vecna, kill him, save the world and stuff, maybe we can all go out or something." steve suggests, looking back at nancy for a moment.

"you know? me, you, robin, jonathan, when he's back," steve continued. "it's not like we're dating. me and robin. not like we're dating. right, she told you? that we're not?"

"yes. she made that very clear."

"platonic with a capital p," robin said from across the room. "yep. thank you." steve said.

"i mean . . . i would date her. it's just . . . she's," steve stopped himself. "we're just . . . never mind. we're friends. just friends."

"right, right," nancy said then took out the last web from his hair. "okay. all better."

"great. thanks." steve said as he turned to face the eldest wheeler. "we'll . . . great. um . . . guess we should, uh, get back to the investigation,"

nancy nodded at him with a small smile.

"the obvious things are not what people observe. or . . . do . . don't observe. or . . ."

the wheeler teen stares at steve with a confused look.

"sherlock holmes," steve clarifies to the confused wheeler teen before walking away.

"what?" nancy whispers to herself before walking over to where robin was.

sage, max, and lucas walk into a room together, flashing their flashlights around as running up that hill plays faintly from max's headphones.

max looks over at what seems to be a chess board with chess pieces, but her attention diverts to her walkman as the tape deck clicks off. the red-head rewinds the tape as lucas speaks up.

"i wish we had a longer loop,"

"forty-six minutes isn't bad," max tells him with a slight smile, checking her walkman before looking over at him. "i think there are bigger concerns," she adds in. "like . . . what if, by listening to this over and over, i get sick of it, and suddenly it's not my favorite song anymore? will it still work? or will kate bush, like, lose her magic power or something?"

"kate bush? never." lucas told her. "i agree," sage said, moving a chess piece on the board before turning to her girlfriend and friend. "you're a kate bush fan?" max asked lucas.

"uh, yeah. now i am." the sinclair teen replied. "really?" max questioned, smiling. "yeah, mega-fan. she . . . she saved your life. besides, we're hot on this creep's trail. we're gonna find vecna." lucas puts a hand on max's shoulder. "and kill him before he even thinks about messing with you and sage again. all right?"

sage gives lucas a soft smile when he turns to look at her. the sinclair teen smiles at the couple.

"in fact, i bet if we hit these suckers in the right combo," lucas walks over to the piano against the wall. "we might just open a door to his secret lair," his fingers press down on the keys and plays discordant notes. "voilà,"

the three laugh. "you're suck a dork," max said to him as her girlfriend glances at the two. "i thought you were, like, one of the cool kids now,"

"i'm not cool?" lucas questioned her making her laugh, and look down at the piano.

sage fully looked up from the chess board, smiling at her girlfriends laugh.

"i've really missed that," lucas tells max. "missed what?" max asks. "your laugh,"

the red-head stares at him before hearing her tape deck click.

"all done," max smiles at him then at sage, who was standing behind them, before playing the song. "work your magic, kate,"

sage stared at the two, her tongue dragging across her cheek. she was happy the two finally communicated, but she couldn't help but feel the jealously course up her veins.

suddenly, a lamp turns on causing the three heads to snap in the direction of the light.

"i promise i'm gonna stop asking this, but . . . you're seeing that, right?" max asked as she walked towards the lamp. "yeah," lucas replied.

"i see it," sage said before looking down at the chess board, noticing the opposite side had moved its chess piece. holy shit.

max reaches her hand to the lamp but it turns off in an instant. sage hears something and turns to the door, seeing another lamp had turned on.

"look," sage says, pointing at the lamp.

max and lucas turn around to see what the wheeler twin was pointing at. sage walks over to the red-head, taking her hand and slowly leading her and lucas out of the room.

the chandelier on the ceiling turned on before a light on the wall flashed on. more lights flashed on before it stopped at a different chandelier.

the three teens stand together, staring at the light before looking at one another.

   IT WAS NOW DARK OUT AND ALL OF the teens were standing around the lit chandelier that glowed brightly above them.

"it's like the christmas lights," nancy says. "the christmas lights?" robin repeated. "yeah, when will was in the upside down, the lights . . . came to life," nancy explained to robin.

"vecna's here," lucas speaks up. "in this house,"

"just on the other side," sage whispered, not tearing her eyes away from the chandelier.

the light suddenly turned off and it was robin's turn to speak.

"i think he just left the room,"

"did he hear us?" max asked. "can he see us?" steve then asked.

"headphones," sage told max, grabbing her headphones and putting them on her head.

"wait, wait," nancy said. "everyone, turn off your flashlights and spread out,"

everyone turned off their flashlights and began to separate around the house.

"we're not gonna be able to see if we turn off our flash . . . lights," steve said but slowed his speaking down when he noticed no one was even listening to him. "jesus christ."

the teens walked around the house with their flashlights off, waiting for one to flash on.

"i got him!" robin shouted, holding her light up as the teens rush towards her. "got him. i got him." to her dismay, the light shuts off.

"i . . . i had him,"

steve's flashlight suddenly turns on.

"oh, i think he's moving. he's moving. he's moving." steve says and begins to walk in a direction, everyone following him.

they all walk up the stairs and just as they were about to walk up another flight of stairs, steve's flashlight turns off.

"shit," steve whispers. "i lost him,"

"no you didn't," max said and walked past the group, walking to a door and opening it to show there was a light on in the room.

the red-head turns to her friends and girlfriend before they all walk towards the door. max peeks her head inside before slowly walking up the stairs that led to an attic.

sage walked past the group and hurried up so that way she could be next to max.

"it's an attic. of course it's an attic." robin said as she walked in. "hold up, guys," dustin says. "what if he's leading us into a trap?"

no response.

"guys, guys. shit. shit, shit, shit." dustin cursed as he followed behind them.

everyone soon makes it up to the attic to see a single light bulb, hanging from the ceiling, lit. dustin feels his light turn on then looks at his friends, eyes slightly widened.

"flashlights,"

everyone looks down at their flashlights as they gather around in a circle. their lights were facing up to the light bulb.

"okay, what's happening?" steve questioned.

the lights suddenly started to get brighter and sage moved her face away from the light, a small headache slowly making its way to her head.

sage suddenly dropped her flashlight to the floor, grabbing her head as a vision of patrick flying out of the water flashes into her head. all the teens turn their heads to the wheeler twin, eyes widened in shock as their lights flash brighter than before. sage screams in pain, falling her her knees, her ears ringing as the visions of patrick's bones snapping flash through her mind. her flashlight then shattered.

the teens flinched back at the sudden action as max kneels down to her girlfriend. steve's light sudden shatters, the others flashlights doing the same. max yelped as her light did the same, her arm covering sage in protection so the glass wouldn't hit her. sage covers her ears, sobbing at pain as blood runs down her nose.

the last vision sage saw was patrick's eyes getting squashed before the light bulb above the teens shattered. the wheeler twin slowly opened her eyes, her vision slightly blurry, her breathing was heavy as muffled voices were heard.

"sage? sage? guys she's not answering!" max exclaimed, looking at her friends in panic. "sage, can you hear me? come on!"

"she's not in a trance," nancy said as she kneels in front of her younger sister. "she looks like she's gonna pass out,"

sage tries keeping her eyes open as she feels her hair get moved out of her face. her dark brown eyes look up to see what looked like nancy.

"pat . . . patrick," sage whispers, shaking her head, tears streaming down her face as nancy looks at her confused. "what?"

"patrick," lucas mumbled. "he's gone," the sinclair teen gulps, suddenly feeling nauseous.

the teens turn to lucas and frown. "we're sorry, lucas," dustin said, looking at lucas with a sympathetic look as max helps sage up.

lucas shakes his head at dustin until walking over to max and sage, helping the wheeler twin as she wobbles, struggling to stay awake.

"hey, sage, we're going home, okay?" max whispered to her girlfriend, but all sage heard was muffled voices. "max?" sage mumbled, feeling her feet plant on the hard floor.

"it's me, yeah," the mayfield teen told her as her and lucas leaded sage down the attic stairs. "i can't stay awake," the brunette mumbled, blinking her eyes rapidly trying to fix her vision. max shook her head at sage.

"no, stay awake okay? we're almost at the car." max said even though they were nowhere close to the vehicle. "i'm sorry," the wheeler twin whispers before falling out of consciousness.

sage's foot slips as it was just about to step on the next step down the stairs.

"no, sage!"

lucas and max catch sage before she can fall forward.

"shit, guys, we need help!" max exclaimed, her panic rising. "hey, i got her," lucas told the red-head, hooking his arm under sage's knees while his other hand was on her back.

"what happened?" steve asked as he rushed over to the trio. "sage passed out," lucas stated as he lifted the wheeler twin off the ground.

just as the sinclair teen took a step down the stairs, he almost slipped, but he caught himself.

"okay, no. give her to me." steve said, reaching for sage. "i got her, steve," lucas scolded as he held the brunette close to his chest, continuing to walk down the attic stairs.

"don't drop her, sinclair, or i swear to god," steve said firmly, following him.

everyone left the attic and went downstairs before heading outside to the car. steve opened the very back of the car for lucas. max hopped in the back, leaning back against the backseats as lucas stepped after giving sage to steve.

"hand her over," max said, hands reached out for her girlfriend. "i'm giving her to you," steve informed as he gently put sage in the back, max grabbing the wheeler twin in her arms.

"nancy, drive carefully," max said from the back as nancy and the others get in the vehicle. "will do, max," the eldest wheeler replied, turning on the car and checking if everyone was situated before driving off to the wheeler house.

the drive home was quiet. everyone was silent besides max, who was whispering sweet things in sage's ear, but besides that, it was quite.

the mayfield teen strokes sage's hair gently as her other hand cleans the blood off her nose with a napkin she held in her pocket. lucas stares at the couple, fiddling with his hands as the thoughts of patrick flash through his mind.

"will she be okay?" lucas then suddenly asked, shaking the thoughts off. max looks up at lucas then back down at sage. "i hope so."

the red-head analyses her girlfriend. she was pale and her pink lips were cracked, chapped. max was truly terrified of losing sage. everyone knew it. it was obvious. it was the same for sage. she was terrified of losing max and everyone knew it, because it was so obvious.

"she's losing her abilities more," lucas mentioned with a sigh, leaning his elbows on his knees. "we need to stop vecna . . ."

"and stop him fast," nancy added in, listening to the conversation. "and we will," robin said with a soft smile, looking at nancy.

"yeah, i hope so," max whispers, staring at her lover before softly kissing her head.

i love you, max thought while leaning her forehead on sage's.

AUTHORS NOTE //

thank you sm for 1k votes !!

this fic is growing so fast and i love it. thank you for being here and reading up to this far for the readers who have been here since season two had started, or since season three began. i appreciate it dearly. i love you guys !!

bee <3