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

Chapter Ninety-Two: We Are The Same

~~~CONTAINS VOL. 2 SPOILERS~~~

When the landing finally did arrive, there was nothing gentle about it. The back of my head collided with a hard surface, sending shock waves throughout my entire body. I winced, slowly sitting up and putting a hand on the back of my head to see that I was laying on the floor in the middle of a stairwell...an eerily familiar stairwell.

I stood up, moving towards the stairs, already knowing exactly what I would find. I had the route memorized, which allowed me to turn the corner of the closest hospital room towards the stairs, knowing exactly who would be waiting for me.

She was sitting up in her bed, as she often did, but her oxygen tube was gone. Her skin was gray and appeared to be rotting, while her eyes were sunken into her head and surrounded by dark circles. Her hair was still missing, making her appear that much more horrifying.

"Do you know who I am?" She asked in a high-pitched, insanely creepy voice. "Or have you forgotten that too? Was Eleven so good a replacement that you don't even remember what I look like?"

I sighed, rolling my eyes and crossing my arms over my chest.

"Its scary," I said dryly, "I mean really...showing me my dead little sister, playing on the guilt I feel over trying to move on with my life, its a good tactic, for sure, but in case you're forgetting, I'm inside your head. I know all of your tactics...Vecna."

"Is that what you're calling me?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Like you didn't know," I shot back, "I have a feeling you know just as much about me as I know about you."

"Perhaps," He replied, "But you don't know everything."

The room began to spin, and the flickering hospital lights faded, and were soon replaced with the murderous red glow of the lair that Max and I had infiltrated. Once it stopped, I wasn't surprised to see the crumbling house had replaced the hospital set, and I was standing at the top of the very same staircase that I had run down with Chrissy at the very beginning.

"I'm not afraid of you." I said defiantly, beginning to walk down the stairs, "But you want me to be, right? I think you get off of the idea that your victims are afraid before they die. I mean, assuming that's what this is. You showed me Sara so, I think its safe to assume that this is my nightmare and not someone else's."

"What do you know of nightmares?" He asked, still unseen to me. I shook my head.

"I know that you came after my friends...my family," I replied, "and that is going to make me your nightmare."

"What will you do? You know nothing of power. You couldn't even figure out my true identity when it was staring you right in the face."

"Then enlighten me," I said, as I reached the bottom of the stairs, "If you're so smart...if you truly believe that you are so many steps ahead of us then go ahead. Make a fool out of me and tell me what I missed...because I'd be willing to bet that I know more than you think...Henry."

A loud roar filled my ears, and the red ruins disappeared and transformed into the Creel house from the past in all of its vintage glory. I once again stood by and watched as young Victor Creel walked through the front door and took in their new home...only this time, I kept my eyes trained on the little boy that stood with them.

"I noticed something in Victor's story," I said, crossing my arms, "I didn't put the pieces together until this very moment, but I noticed that when he spoke of the demon terrorizing his family...he never once remembered any sort of nightmares for his son. He and his wife had hallucinations; his daughter woke up screaming...but not you. Not Henry."