𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥

014. Vengeful Demon.

    

     VAL ENTERED the basement and slowly brushed past Nancy, to another filing cabinet. "I'm sorry." She says suddenly and Nancy glanced over. "What?" She's taken back and Val stared at her for a moment. "Steve and I are friends. Only friends. Same goes for him and Robbie. Platonic with a capital P, as she calls it." She added onto the explanation then sighed, quickly looking away from her.

"It's just that, after you left Steve, he was a mess, after all the Upside Down shit that year too, he'd call me up, come to my place and cry in my arms. Whether it was about the Demogorgon or demo-dogs or your whole we're bullshit speech, I was there. I helped him." She said, pointing towards her chest. "So... naturally, I grew a strong disliking towards you." She admits, looking over at Nancy.

"But... you're human too, so I'm sorry for being a bitch. I just protect the ones I love. And I love Steve. Robin. And the kids. So... sorry." She says and Nancy just smiles faintly, looking down at the boxes in the filing cabinet. "And I'm sorry... for being so mean towards you and Robin. I just... don't know, I guess I got a little intimidated by you both. You two seem like you both know what you want. And... aren't afraid to show it." She says and Val squints her eyes.

"You totally saw us kiss at Starcourt, didn't you?" She says and Nancy's face flushed red, looking away. "Uh, yeah, sort of..." She says and Val crossed her arms. "And here I thought you wanted Steve back." She muttered then glanced down. "Whatever, it's a good thing because I think that Ed--- nevermind, another time. Also, you intimidate me a lot too... you're like super smart and so hard-working." She says and Nancy looks over, smiling faintly before she diverted her gaze.

"Friends?" Val held out her hand and Nancy looked over at her, smiling. "Yeah. Friends." She shook Val's hand again and the girl raised a finger. "Platonic with a capital P!" She says and Nancy giggles, looking away as she pulls her hand back. "Oh, cool. The Weekly Watcher. I can't believe they have this." Val suddenly says, taking out the box. "Don't they write about, like, Bigfoot and UFOs?" Nancy asked, her arms crossing over her chest.

"Nance, UFOs are totally real, and Bigfoot, I'm unsure about, Robin says it's totally a hoax. But honestly, we're looking for information on dark wizards and I think the weirdos at The Weekly Watcher would write about it." She held up the box and Nancy looks at it.

Upstairs, Val and Nancy join Robin back who smiles at the sight of them looking all fine and friendly now. "Ooh, you got something for me?" Robin asked when Val raised the box. "Yup!" She hands it over and Robin quickly insert it before scrolling to the first article as Nancy and Valerie stood on either sides of her.

"Ah. Elvis cloned by aliens." Nancy says and Val shrugs. "You never know." Robin glanced up at the Wheeler who just rolled her eyes and turned away. "Just keep going." Val leans down a bit further and Robin glanced at her, smiling faintly before turning her attention back. "Victor Creel claims vengeful demon killed family. The murder that shocked a small community." Robin then says in a dramatic reporter-like voice as Valerie stared at her, smiling.

"Ha, ha. That's very funny." Nancy says, pretending to be amused. "She is not kidding. Get your ass over here, Nance." Valerie says and the girl rushed over, standing by Robin again. "According to several insiders, Victor believed his house was haunted by an ancient demon. Victor allegedly hired a priest to exorcise the demon from his home. Pretty novel for the '50s. Exorcist wasn't out yet." Robin says, glancing at Nancy then over at Valerie.

"Keep... keep going." Nancy says and Robin does so, pulling up the next page. "Okay, so Victor claimed this exorcism failed, but it angered this demon, which then murdered his family, removing their eyes. Victor believed he was spared as a punishment." Robin says and Nancy nods. "Yeah, well that's pretty convenient for Victor." She added on.

"Yeah, or super inconvenient." Valerie spoke, glancing over. "Victor was declared legally insane." She added and Robin nods. "By the court. What if this is why?" The Buckley says as Nancy glanced between them pretty quickly. "I mean, it aounds pretty insane. It just didn't go public because--" "the plea bargain. The records were sealed." Nancy quickly cut off Robin. "What if a demon did invade Victor's home? It's just, this demon wasn't any old demon." Robin says as Valerie sighs quietly.

"It was Vecna..." She says as Robin quickly looks over at her, nodding quietly. The girls grabbed their stuff and left, Valerie opening up Dustin's radio on their way out. "Dustin, do you copy?" She says and the boy doesn't take long to reply. "Yeah, I copy, Val." He replied.

"So, Nancy's a genius. Vecna's first victims date back to '59, her shot in the dark was a bull's-eye." She looks at Nancy, grinning. "Okay, that's totally bonkers, but I can't really talk right now." The Henderson replied. "What? Why? What are you doing?" She asked right away. "Breaking and entering into school to retrieve some confidential and extremely personal files." He replied making Val scrunch up her face.

"Uh, could I ask why?" She asked. "Just get your ass over here, stat." He says right away in response and there's a small pause. "Sorry. Can you please come quick?" He says again and Val rolls her eyes, glancing at Robin who just furrows her brows and Val just sighs, shrugging. "We'll explain everything." Dustin then said and Nancy looks over.

"I thought they were talking to Ms. Kelley." She says in disbelief as Val shuts off the radio by pushing the signal rod down. "We leave them alone for two hours." Robin sighs, rolling her eyes as she opens up the passenger door for Val before getting into the back again.

authors note when val and robin stare at each other while the other isn't looking