[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗔𝗖𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗪𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗦 𝗟𝗔𝗕]

MAX AND SAGE CONTINUE BIKING TO eddie's trailer, sage gripping onto max tightly.

"thank you, maxine," sage tells her, her brown hair blowing back. "you thanked me, like, a hundred times already, sage," max replied with a chuckle. "and i'll keep thanking you,"

even though sage couldn't see it, she knew max was blushing like crazy.

the two teens eventually made it to eddie's trailer and quickly hopped off the bike.

with a smile, sage quickly ran up the stairs to the door, max following behind her. the brunette got to the door and slammed it open, but when she ran into the trailer — no one was there.

". . . are we here early?" sage asks and turns around to max, only to not see her. "max?"

sage opens the door to check outside, but ends up somewhere else, almost falling over the stairs. she was in vecna's lab. tears almost immediately form in sage's eyes as she looks around.

"m-max?" the wheeler twin whimpers in fear, slowly going down the steps before she heard the familiar deep voice.

vecna . . .

"SAGE? SAGE!" MAX EXCLAIMED, HER hands over sage's cheeks as they stand outside the trailer. "GUYS!" the red-head yells to get the teens, and adult's attention from inside, outside. max turns back and looks at sage.

her eyes were rolled back and she was standing still. max begins to shake her girlfriend before taking off her walkman, and putting it on sage.

all the teens and eddie run outside the trailer to see a panicked max, and a cursed sage.

"shit,"

"oh my god,"

"sage," nancy exclaimed and ran to her sister, beginning to shake her. "song, max, where's her song?!"

"i don't have it!"

"go get it!" steve ushered. "now, go get it now!"

the red-head puts the walkman in nancy's hands, the headphones already on sages head, before running towards her trailer.

"I SEE YOUR SISTER HAS BEEN LOOKING for me, sage," vecna says as sage walks down the steps. "she was so close. so close to the truth."

"what?" sage whispers, a tear falling down her cheek. "ask nancy, how was old, blind, dumb victor? did he miss me?"

the wheeler twin makes it down the stairs and looks around as vecna continues to talk.

"i've been meaning to check back in, but i've been busy,"

sage's eyes land on fred's body. her hand covers her mouth in shock as she lets out a sob.

"leave me alone," sage cries softly. "so very busy," sage's dark eyes then land on the door max drew, her face softens slightly.

then before she knew it, she was in a house.

"what'd i tell ya?" young victor asks his wife with a smile. "wow," virginia smiles.

"this is amazing," alice says as she walks in. sage stares at her. "it looks like a fairytale. a dream,"

when alice walked past sage, the wheeler twins eyes focused on the young boy. he looked so . . . quiet, sensitive.

"alice, no running,"

"it's so big!"

"this is nice," victor says to his wife. "yeah," she agrees, leaning against you.

"like you, i didn't fit in with the other children. something was wrong with me. all the teachers and the doctors said i was . . . "broken," they said . . . my parents thought a change of the scenery, a fresh start in hawkins, might just cure me. it was absurd."

sage heard a younger voice speak and she looked around before looking at the young child again.

"as if the world would be any different here."

the brunette follows the young boy before seeing a light flicker in another room.

"but then . . . to my surprise, our new home provided a discovery."

sage watches as the boy kneels down in front of a vent, opening it. she walks closer to get a better look, tilting her head slightly.

"a newfound sense of purpose,"

the boy reaches his hand into the vent, gently reaching for a black widow.

"i found a nest of black widows live mh inside a vent. most people fear spiders."

"i fear spiders," sage whispers quietly. "they detest them. and yet, i found them endlessly fascinating. more than that. i found a great comfort in them."

suddenly, a whoosh was heard behind sage. she gasped and whipped around, following the boy.

"a kinship. like me, they are solitary creatures. deeply misunderstood. they are gods of our world."

the brunette walks into the attic to see the young boy, looking at jars of spiders.

"the most important of all predators,"

candles were lit in the room. sage walks closer, standing behind the boy. he was drawing the spider on paper, occasionally looking back at the black widows.

"they immobilize and feed on the weak, bringing balance and order to an unstable ecosystem,"

"but the human world was disrupting this harmony. you see, humans are a unique type of pest, multiplying and poisoning our word, all while enforcing a structure of their own. a deeply unnatural structure."

sage walked downstairs where she saw the young boy staring at the grandfather clock. when that happened, it automatically clicked.

the young boy was young vecna . . . he used to be human.

"where others saw order, i saw straitjacket. a cruel, oppressive world distracted by made-up rules. seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades. each life a faded, lesser copy of the one before. wake up, eat, work, sleep, reproduce, and die."

sage winced at how aggressive the voice got before continuing to stare at the clock, listening to it tick.

"everyone is just waiting. waiting for it all to be over. all while performing in a silly, terrible play, day after day."

"i could not do that. i could not close off my mind and join in the madness. i could not pretend. and i realized . . . i didn't have to."

sage watches as the boy closes his eyes. she hears a distorted chiming and watches the clock arms whirring in a circle — it's as if it was being controlled.

"i could make my own rules. i could restore balance to a broken world. a predator. but for good."

a shrill shriek caused sage to whip around to the sound, only ending up outside. her eyes landed on a rabbit struggling and whining in pain. it was in a trap.

"as i practiced, i realized i could do more than i possibly imagined."

the boy reached his hand out to the rabbit and it fell to the floor, shrieking in pain.

"i could reach into others, into their minds, their memories,"

sage's eyes widened as the rabbits bones cracked. she put her hand to her mouth.

"i became an explorer. i saw my parents as they truly were. to the world. they presented themselves as good, normal people. but like everything else in this world it was all a lie. a terrible lie. they had done things, sage. such awful things."

sage runs back inside the house, slamming the door behind her as she breathes heavily. sage's head turns, and she hears a baby wailing.

"i showed them who they really were,"

the wheeler twin lets out a sob as she sees a baby in a rocking bed. it was on fire. the baby was on fire . . .

"i held up a mirror. my naive father believed it was a demon cursing them for their sins. but my mother somehow knew. knew it was i who was holding up that mirror,"

the brunette turned around.

"— and she despised me for it,"

"dream a little dream" began to play faintly as sage walked into another room.

"she called a doctor, an expert. she wanted him to lock me away, to fix me."

her eyes watched as victor walked over to the radio, switching it off.

"even though it wasn't i who was broken. it was them. and so she left me with no choice. no choice but to act."

the young boys eyes shut close and the lights begin to flicker.

"to break free,"

sage looked at the lights before seeing virginia fly up to the air. no headache, no nose bleed happened to sage as she watched the blonde's bones snap. the wheeler twin gasps as the body falls down onto the table.

"with each life i took, i grew stronger. more powerful. they were becoming a part of me. but i was still a child. and i did not know my limits."

sage's eyes focus on the boy, the lights still flickering.

"and it nearly killed me,"

he collapsed to the floor and victor turned around, rushing to his son and picking him up in his arms. sage walked in front of the door, standing there in shock at the fact that a young boy did this to his family.

it was all him.

"he was arrested, blamed for the death of my sister and mother, just as i had planned. but i was far from free. i woke up from my coma only to find myself placed in the care of a doctor, the very doctor i had hoped to escape. dr. martin brenner. papa. but the truth . . . the truth is he did not just want me to study me. he wanted more. he wanted to control."

sage pants heavily as she stares at the man and young boy in the lab. brenner was tattooing him.

"when papa finally realized he could not control me, he tried to recreate me. he began a program. and soon, others were born. eleven was born . . . you were born, but except, you, sage, have had them handed to you just from a simple flake  of dust. the moment that absorbed into the palm of your hand, you've had incredible power. incredible power you simply still don't know about because you're still learning . . ."

sage feels tears fall down her cheeks as she furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

"incredible power?" sage whispered to herself. she's heard that she's powerful far too many times. "am i really that powerful?"

AUTHORS NOTE //

i'm so sorry i haven't updated in a while !! i have had summer band camp this whole week, and i have it again this week, twice a day. so i'm sorry if the updates will be slow !!

EDITED: 9/23/22

this is re-written !! if you guys remember what happened the last time i published this chapter, forget it happened. i had an idea, but i realized it wouldn't fit with what i wanted to happen in the ending, and i don't wanna change anything !!

there still might be slow updates, i have started school six weeks ago and i'm going to be busy with school work, marching band, football games, just everything! so, sorry if i don't update for weeks or months, please understand :)

bee <3