Love Is A Battlefield (A Stranger Things/Steve Harrington Fanfiction)

Chapter Eighty-Two: Runnin' Up That Hill

As soon as my body hit the ground, the hard concrete floor of the Criminal ward was replaced with grass.

I furrowed my eyebrows, suddenly having gone from completely unconscious to fully aware within a matter of seconds.

"Riley?" I looked up to see that I was laying on the ground in a dark, shadowy cemetery, and sitting beside me a few inches away, was Max. I moved up onto my hands and knees, glancing at the headstone that she was sitting in front of. It read Billy Hargrove.

"Max." A deep and eerily familiar voice called. I quickly stood up, grabbing Max's hand and pulling her up with me. Through the fog several feet to our left was a shadowy figure that was slowly making its way towards us. "I've been waiting to hear those words, Max. Waiting so very long."

Max swallowed nervously as the figure emerged from the fog, revealing itself to be a very bloody Billy Hargrove.

"Hello, Blondie." He greeted, glancing at me.

"We're not doing this," I yelled, glaring at him, "Not this time! YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!"

"You can't stop me," He said, continuing his approach before looking at Max again, "It wasn't the full truth, was it Max? You know, I think there's a part of you, buried somewhere deep, that wanted me to die that day. That was maybe even relieved."

"Of course there wasn't," I said, turning my head to her, "He was still your brother, and I know you loved him, in spite of everything you two went through."

"Billy no, that's not true." She agreed tearfully.

"That's why you stood there, isn't it, Max?" He questioned. "Its ok, you can admit it now. No more lies, no more hiding."

"Billy that's not true, I swear its not true."

"Max, it isn't really him." I assured her, reaching back and sliding my hands into hers. He was getting closer, so we both started backing away from him.

"That is why you feel such guilt."

"No."

"Why you hide from your friends."

"No."

"Why you hide from the world."

"And that's why, late at night, you have sometimes wished to follow me." I slowly turned around to look at Max. She looked at me with tears streaming down her face, shaking her head.

"I am right here." I told her. "You are not alone right now, ok? I'm here."

"Follow me into death, that is why I am here Max, to end your suffering, once and for all."

The chiming of the clock started up again, and the closer Billy got the more Max began to back up until she reached the edge of his burial plot. She fell but I caught her with my grip on her arm, pulling us both onto the ground just as Billy disappeared and transformed into Vecna. We both turned away from him, taking off into the cemetery as fast as we possibly could.

"It is time, Max." He called. "Time for you to join me."

We both ran until we reached the end of the graveyard, pausing behind a raised wall and hitting the ground in an attempt to catch our breath. 

"Just hang in there ok?" I called. "I think we know the way out of this, I'm just praying that Nancy and Robin were on the same wavelength as me, which I guarantee you, they are. They're geniuses, the both of them, so you are not gonna die today, ok?"

"You cannot hide from me, Maxine."

"Maxine?" I asked. "Ok now he's just being a douche."

We took off running again, only to come to a screeching stop when the area in front of us transformed into a blood-red haze.