𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐬, 𝐦𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫. ►

CHAPTER NINE: PAPA 1

"Jo! Just stay with me, stay with me, okay?" Steve cried out, both of his hands on Jo's face as she stood there, completely still.

River was staring up at them in a panic before sprinting back into Eddie's room, completely freaking out.

"Hurry!" She had yelled out, causing Dustin to turn around, returning the scream

"Yeah, what do you think we're doing?!"

"We're trying." Max screamed, rummaging through Eddie's room with the others, "We can't find anything!"

Mike went through Eddie's drawers and he hollered to Eddie, turning around quickly. "Eddie what even is this shit?" He threw out tapes of random artists that would surely not help Jo, and Robin was quick to agree.

"What are you guys even looking for?" Eddie yelled out in a panic as Nancy groaned, going through the Music.

"Madonna, Blondie, Bowie? Music! We need Music!" Robin was quick to answer, looking up to Eddie who snatched the tapes from her hands.

"THIS IS MUSIC." He turned red as he fumed, and River continued to panic before running back over to Steve and Jo.

Jo was still running in the lab. She felt as if her shoes had been slipping off, and she wanted to scream even more than she already was. She didn't know this place, she didn't know anything about it. Not only was it scaring her, it was confusing her.

Her hands pressed up against the door, that was blocked with wood, and she panicked, attempting to pull on it.

"Josephine." The dark voice of 001 had called out for Jo, and she turned slowly, her heart pounding. "What are you doing? It's not time for you to leave."

She had only gasped in response, and with each pull she gave on the wood planks, she found that it just wasn't coming off.

Jo had opened the door, pushing it backwards harshly and jumping over the wood plank. The door had hit her harshly, but she was over the plank and past it, so she didn't care.

She just ran, wincing for a second, but continuing on. "Now that you've seen where I've been..I would like very much to show you where I am going."

What did Jo matter to Vecna, and why did he want so badly for her to be the one he showed? Jo didn't know, the voice of his was still easy to hear as she ran, it was like he was in her head.

She found a room, pressing on the door with her shoulder harshly and she fell in, glancing around. Her eyes shot everywhere once she made it in.

"Take a seat, Josephine." Jo didn't know who she was looking at, she had no recollection of ever seeing him in the entirety of her life. To those who did know him, he was Brenner. A young Brenner.

The lights shut off, and with a scream of Jo's they flashed back on. Her hands were tied in a chair of the labs with vines. Dark, slimy vines like the ones in the upside down she'd seen earlier.

Her breath hitched, and she shook, attempting to break free, but none of it worked. Nothing worked, and now 001 had caught up to her.

He walked over slowly, and you could hear his skin as he did. It was loud, and it was disgusting. Jo still screamed, she screamed and pulled her arms as much as she could, but it still just hadn't worked.

He leaned over her, closely, and once Jo looked up to him she was sure this was it. This was what River was trying to protect her from, and it didn't work. This is what would kill her.