𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 ➤ 𝑹. 𝑩𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒚

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐈𝐗

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"𝘽𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙣, 𝙛𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣"

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𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟒𝐭𝐡, 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

"𝐎𝐊𝐀𝐘, 𝐒𝐎 just to be clear...this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El  — it's just some sort of gigantic weapon?" Steve asked slowly, brows twisted in confusion. Everyone had now managed to sit down and share their side of the story, allowing the many, many pieces of the interdimensional puzzle to start piecing themselves together.

Nancy nodded earnestly, "Yeah."

"But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon with melted people..." he trailed off, looking to Nancy once more for clarification, who glanced at Jonathon quickly before answering, "Exactly."

Steve stared at his companions doubtfully, a hand running through the knots in his hair. Eventually he sighed, "Yeah, okay. I— yeah, I'm just making sure."

Valerie didn't really care about the legitimacy of their story, nor the details, it all translated into some form of 'fucked up' in her head. Her thoughts were miles away from the abandoned mall they now loitered in. 

There was that feeling sinking in, that sense of foreboding that settled in the pit of her stomach, raising goosebumps on her flesh despite the muggy heat. Sure, it was her body's reaction to stress, it was anxiety, fear, but it was also words. They sung loud and clear, an unrelenting ringing in her ears — something was going to go wrong. And who was she, human, a poorly functioning one at that, to be able to stop it? Forget about running for their lives, they were fighting for them now.

But alas, the conversation continued on, and Valerie kept her thoughts to herself, and her eyes on the floor.

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce questioned, there was no effort to mask her worry. Max scoffed, a sardonic smile on her face as she answered the woman, "I mean, El beat the shit out of it but yeah, it's still alive."

"Great," Valerie drawled, she was sitting on the edge of the fountain near Robin, elbow digging into her knee as she rested her chin in her palm, "If El can't beat it than how the hell are we supposed to?"

Strangely enough, Will perked up at this, "What if we close the gate—"

"—then we can cut the brain off from the body," Max finished, hope laced in her words. Lucas nodded at her firmly, "And kill it."

Valerie's eyes darted tiredly between the three of them, "Let's keep the telepathy to a minimum, yeah? You're freaking me out." 

"I'll keep my mouth shut when you stop spitting out snarky remarks," Max countered, poking her tongue out childishly. The brunette smirked, hands held up in surrender and the younger teens resumed their strategy talk. 

A shadow passing had Valerie looking up swiftly and scanning the face in front of her. Jonathon had parted from Nancy, an awkward — but incredibly soft — smile ghosting his lips as he gazed at her reassuringly.

It reminded her of the Jonathon she was close to years ago. The boy who'd comforted her after she'd broken her arm falling off a ladder, who'd uselessly placed a band-aid on the injured limb while they waited for the ambulance and then one on her cheek to stop her from crying. He'd always been a total sap. A magnet for other people's troubles but a repellent for his own. Even now he seemed to absorb her distress.