[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧: 𝗣𝗔𝗣𝗔]

SAGE STARED AT THE MAN AND THE child. no voice was heard anymore around her. her eyes were widened in shock as she watches brenner place down the tattoo drill.

"all done," brenner tells henry. "not so bad, was it?"

sage's brown eyes get a closer look of the tattoo.

001.

the brunette's jaw drops. he was the first experiment brenner had worked on.

"see? there's nothing to be afraid of." brenner continued speaking. "is there, sage?"

sage's heart dropped when the man said her name. brenner turned his head and sage's brown eyes saw his eyes were cloudy white.

"why don't you take a seat?" brenner asked, his voice now distorted. sage didn't hesitate to run out of the room.

as she entered a hallway, distant screaming of children were heard. "no!"

the brunette's eyes filled with tears at the sight of the hallway. blood on the walls, dead people on the floor, doors to the children's rooms open, and lights flickering rapidly. sage turned around and ran off, tears falling down her cheeks.

   "SAGE, JUST STAY WITH ME. STAY WITH me, okay?" nancy said to her sister as she cupped her face, standing outside eddie's trailer waiting for the others to return with sage's favorite song. "whatever you guys are doing, hurry up!" nancy shouted to max's trailer.

erica, who was standing outside max's door, runs inside and rushes to max's room.

"nancy says you need to hurry!"

"yeah? no shit!" dustin yells at the girl in response. "we're trying. we can't find anything. i can't find it! i could've sworn i had it!" max said, panicking as she searched through a box.

"seriously, what is all this shit?" robin asked eddie, holding his music he brought along thinking it would help. "what are you even looking for?" eddie asked the teenager.

"tears for fears, blondie, queen, beatles! music, we need music!" max shouted at the adult. eddie snatched a tape from robins hand and glared at the red-head, "this is music!" he yelled.

"yell at me again and you won't live to see another fucking day, munson! my girlfriend could be dying and it'll be my fault if i don't save her!" max shouted at him, grabbing the tape he had and throwing it at his chest as she is on the verge of breaking down.

SAGE BREATHES HEAVILY AS SHE reaches a boarded up door. her hands reach up to her hair, pulling on it anxiously as she lets out a sob. retracting her hands from her hair, she grabs the boarded, and attempts to break them away from the door so she can escape.

"son of a . . ." sage manages to get a board off and grabs another one, struggling to pull it off. "god!"

"sage," vecna is heard and sage freezes in her spot, slowly turning around to look behind her. he was walking towards her. "remember me?"

the brunette begins to recall the dream she had the day before mike left to california. her brown eyes stare at the creature as he speaks.

"what are you doing?" he asks. "it's not time for you to leave,"

the wheeler twin gasps, turning back around to continue to break off the wooden boards. her eyes flash orange-red as she takes off another one, hurrying to take off the rest.

"now that you've seen where i've been . . . i would like very much to show you where i am going."

sage gets the last piece of wood off the door and opens the door, running into a room. when her, now, brown eyes search for where she's at she realizes she's back in the room she was in before. brenner was standing there, hands behind his back, his eyes still cloudy white.

"take a seat, sage,"

the lights go off and the brunette whimpers, shaking her head.

"no, no, no!" sage panics and before she knows it, the lights are back on and she is sitting down on the seat, held down by the tentacles. the wheeler twin gasps and tries lighting her hands on fire while struggling to escape, but nothing happens.

her head lifts up and she sees vecna. the creature walks towards her, breathing heavily. sage shakes her head and lets out a sob, not wanting him to come any closer to her. when he does, his arms are placed on each side of her, his face lowered down to look at her.

sage shrinks back in the seat, staring at him.

"i . . . want you to tell eleven. i want you to tell her everything you see."

his clawed hand reaches up over sage's head and she gasps and visions come up in her head.

the creel house coming apart, the red-orange color of the upside down gate showing. the attic floor breaking apart with the gate appearing.

clock chime.

"no!" sage screams as tears fall down her eyes.

eddie's trailer coming apart as the gate spreads across the road. another clock chime is then heard as sage continues screaming.

the road where fred died is now damaged and replaced with a gate. hawkins was coming to an end. clock chime.

"tell her . . ."

"no! no! no! fuck you!"

another clock chime.

"everything,"

"no!"

sage's eyes opened up and she was back to reality. nancy noticed and immediately caught her sister, seeing she was falling back.

"hey, woah, woah, woah, woah," nancy says and holds the back of sage's head as she pants heavily. "it's okay. it's okay. it's okay."

the brunette gasps, feeling her older sister cup her face, moving hair out of her face.

"i'm right here, i'm right here,"

THE NEXT DAY CAME AND EVERYONE was sitting in max's trailer in the living room. max and sage were in the red head's room separated from the others, so they could have time alone. the mayfield teen was sitting criss cross on her bed with sage, cupping her face and wiping the occasional tears that feel down her face. sage was leaning against her girlfriends touch as she sobbed lightly, the flashes of her and vecna appearing through her mind nonstop every time she closed her eyes for even a millisecond.

"it was so scary, maxine," sage whispered, lip quivering as she spoke. "i know, i know, shhh," max replied, trying to calm her lover down before they talk about the situation with the others. the wheeler twin stared at max's bright blue eyes, almost instantly calming down.

max moved some hair from sage's eyes as she held the eye contact with the brunette. she truly hated how her lover was feeling. and it was completely mutual. coming face to face with vecna was a completely terrifying experience.

the red head gave sage a soft smile, planting a kiss on her nose making sage let out a light smile in return. the wheeler twin was grateful to have max in her life. she didn't think she would ever have someone as special as max. and she definitely didn't think someone like max would be interested in her.

"i'm glad i met you," sage mumbled, staring into max's eyes, admiring her. the red head tilts her head, rubbing her thumb against sage's cheek as she smiles at her. "why?" the mayfield teen asked with furrowed eyebrows, the smile not faltering.

"you accepted who i was . . . in the most dumbest way possible, but it was the most nicest thing anyone had done in . . . years," sage began, tears falling down her face as she let out a small laugh remembering how max accepted her.

"i've always wanted a friend in the lgbtq community,"

"hey," the red head smiled, wiping her tears away immediately while leaning her forehead against hers. "from the day i met you . . . i knew you were the one for me. to be honest, i'm really glad you found me at the arcade, i'm really glad we had the same class together, i'm really glad you bumped into me on your way to drop off your project, i'm just really glad i met you too. if i never met you, i don't know what i would've done with my life." sage smiled at her girlfriend, but max didn't stop there. she kept going.

"even if we're in a difficult situation right now, i know that if i have you . . . everything will be okay and everything will be perfect."

sage let out a little laugh and leaned forward, kissing her softly while holding her waist. the red head grinned, automatically returning the kiss to her girlfriend back as she leaned back on the bed. the lovers giggled but didn't pull away from the kiss, savoring the moment.

the wheeler twin felt much better.

a knock on the door was heard and the two girls pull away, looking at the door.

"yes?" max said, wondering who was ruining their moment. "are you guys doing okay? can we hear what happened now?" dustin questioned from the other side of the door.

"yeah, give us a second," sage answered, crawling off of max and off the bed. "are you sure you're ready to tell them?" max asked her girlfriend, sitting up and getting off the bed to stand next to her. "i'm sure, maxine." sage smiled at her.

the red head took ahold of sage's hand and laced their fingers together. the wheeler teen walked over to the door and opened it, seeing dustin standing there with his arms crossed. sage raised her eyebrows at him before walking past him.

sage sat down on the couch with max next to her, still holding her hand tightly.

"he showed me things that haven't happened yet," sage said, hoarsely. "the most awful things."

the brunette immediately wanted to break down again.

"i saw a dark cloud spreading over hawkins. downtown on fire. dead soldiers. and this . . . giant creature with . . . a gaping mouth. and this creature wasn't alone. there were so many monsters. an army. and they were coming into hawkins. into our neighborhoods. our homes. and then . . . " sage paused, gulping as she held back tears. "he showed me my mom." the wheeler teen looks over at nancy. "and holly. mike. nancy. and they . . . they were all . . . " sage breathes shakily as she plays with max's fingers.

a tear rolled down her face as she played with max's fingers. she didn't want to continue her sentence. she didn't want anyone to hear what would happen to them.

"okay, but . . . he's just trying to scare you, sage." steve informed. "right, i mean . . . i mean, it's not real."

"not yet," sage replied, wiping her tears away. "but there . . . there was something else. he showed me gates. four gates. spreading across hawkins. and these gates, they looked like the one outside of eddie's trailer, but they didn't stop growing. and this wasn't the upside down hawkins." sage shook her head, lip quivering as she spoke. "this was our hawkins. our home."

"four chimes," max blurted out. everyone turned to look at her. "vecna's clock. it always chimes four times." she glanced at sage. "four exactly."

"i heard them too," sage whispered causing everyone to look back at the teenager. "he's been telling us his plan this whole time," max informed. "four kills. four gates." lucas mumbles as she looks over at max. "end of the world,"

"if that's true," dustin spoke up. "he's only one kill away."

"oh jesus christ. jesus christ." eddie buries his face in his hands.

"try 'em again. try 'em again." steve said and sage immediately got up to go to the phone, max following behind her. "please, answer me mike," sage whispers and she takes the phone, dialing the number and putting it to her ear as the line rings. "come on, come o —" the phone then went to busy signal and sage gripped the phone tightly before putting it back.

"anything?" dustin asked. "nope," max replied with a sigh. "rang a few times, then went to busy signal," sage told him and crossed her arms.

"maybe you punched the wrong number. try again." steve suggested. "i didn't punch it in wrong," sage answered him with an eye roll, taking the phone again. "well, i don't know."

"i think she knows how to use a phone," dustin says to the harrington teen.

sage punches in the numbers and puts the phone to her ear again.

"i'm just saying, she could've typed it in wrong,"

"oh, fuck you, steve," sage mumbled as the line rings a few times. the wheeler teen sighs and puts the phone back. "same shit."

"how is that possible?" lucas questioned. "i told you joyce has this telemarketer job. she's always on the phone." dustin tries explaining. "mike won't stop whining about it."

"yeah, but this phone's been busy for, what, three days now?" max informs the group. "that's not joyce. no way. something's wrong."

"she's right," nancy says. "it can't be just a coincidence. it can't be."

"nance, if something's wrong . . . doesn't that mean mike's in trouble?" sage asked, automatically getting a bad feeling. nancy looked over at sage and immediately gave her the same look in return. "whatever's happening in lenora is connected to all of this," sage explained.

"but vecna can't hurt them. not if he's dead." nancy said, looking out the window before turning back to the group. "we have to go back in there. back to the upside down."

"whoa, no, no, no. what?" steve immediately protested. "nope!" eddie agreed with steve.

"let's think this through," steve tried to say as she walked over to nancy. "what is there to think through?" nancy asked.

"we barely made it out of there in one piece,"

"yeah, because we weren't prepared. but this time, we will be. we'll get weapons and protection. we'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him."

"or he'll kill us. the only reason sage survived his because he wanted her to. he's not scared of us."

"and for good reason," robin joined into their argument. "we were wrong about vecna. henry. one. sorry, what are we calling him now?"

"one,"

"vecna,"

"one,"

"henry,"

"vecna,"

"right," robin shook her head. "we've learned something new about vecna/henry/one. he's a number like eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child- murdering version of her with really bad skin. but my . . . my point is, he's super powerful. and he's gonna get even more powerful once he's taken all of sage's powers. he could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. it's not a fair fight." she explained in one breath.

"then why fight fair?" dustin asked her. "you're right. he's like eleven, and sage. but that gives us an upper hand. we know eleven and sage's strengths. and weaknesses."

"weaknesses?" erica questions. "yeah," sage says and begins to explain. "when me and el remote-travel we go into this sort of trance-like state. i bet the same is true of vecna."

"that must explain what he was doing in that attic," lucas acknowledged. "exactly. when he attacks his next victim, i'll bet you he's back in that attic, physically body defenseless." dustin explained with a smile.

"defenseless? what about the army of bats?" steve asks the teen. "right, true. we'll have to find a way past them." dustin agrees with the older teen. "distract them somehow."

"and, uh, how do we do that, exactly?" eddie questions, getting up from the couch. "no idea," he replies making eddie sit back down.

"but once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance. it'll be like slaying sleeping dracula in his coffin."

"slaying?" sage asked. dustin shot her a look and she immediately closed her mouth.

"that all sounds good in theory, but there is no patterns to vecna's killings." robin reported to the henderson teen. "not one that i can decipher. we don't know when he's going to attack next. we don't even know who he's going to attack."

"yeah, we do," max cut in. everyone turned their heads to look at her. "i can still feel him. i'm still marked. cursed. i ditch kate bush. i draw his focus back to me." she explains her plan.

"max," lucas says. "you can't. he'll kill you. and it'll most likely kill sage too!"

"i survived before. i can survive again. i just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. then you can chop his head off. stab him in the heart. blow him up with some explosives dustin cooks up. i honestly, really don't care how you put this asshole in his grave. just . . . whatever it is . . . whatever you do . . ."

sage looks over at max.

"try not to miss."

AUTHORS NOTE //

sorry it took me two months to update the next chapter. marching band has come to an end so i will be able to update again!!

how excited are you??

bee <3