the unknown | steve harrington

prologue

The thick clouds that spread over Hawkins had everyone's attention, however, at Hawkins High it wasn't the only thing that scared the locals.

The gang had knew their fight wasn't over, that they had lost to a spectacular level, but they didn't for one second guess that Daphne Henderson would be the first to go.

So when the brunette collapsed beside Steve and Robin, their hearts collapsed with her.

The Harrington boy dropped by her side as he caught her head, lightly slapping her cheek and repeating her name over and over in hope she could hear them. But she couldn't. It was different to the previous times; she didn't stay still, she dropped. Her eyes were still, almost like she was in a deep sleep as her chest continued to move up and down rhythmically.

"Daph, hey, come on," Steve begged, the tears pricking his eyes as he picked her up into his arms. "Hey, get a bed!" He cried as he made his way through the people. "Get your Walkman!" He cried to Robin who nodded quickly and ran in the opposite direction.

Steve could feel his heart pounding from his chest, looking at the limp girl he managed to put on a bed as a doctor rushed over to take a look at her. Opening up her eye lids and shining a light into them. Steve stood up and paced, his hands behind his head as he prays this is just a blip. It's not real. Vecna can't be in her head again.

Robin ran back, Dustin quickly hobbling behind her as his chest heaves with panic.

"What happened?!" He shouted, glancing to Steve and kneeling beside her.

"I-I-I don't know!" Steve stuttered, shrugging dramatically as he pulls a hand through his hair and crouches next to her. "She was fine and then whatever that was and then— she just—" at the same time as Steve trying to explain, Robin placed the headphones on her.

"Excuse me, I'm trying to examine her—" the doctor tried to interrupt, with Robin shushing her aggressively.

"Give this a second!" She hissed at the woman, Steve nervously chewing on his thumb.

It felt like hours had gone by, and yet it wasn't working.

"It's not Vecna," Dustin shook his head, holding Daphne's hand as he felt his eyes prick with tears. "She can't leave too, Steve, she can't," Dustin choked the words out as a small sob left his throat, Steve rested his forehead against her arm as Robin continued to try and hold out for the music to work.

"Yeah, she needs to go to hospital, unconscious with no explanation." The doctor nodded to the paramedics who manoeuvred their way through the small crowd around them.

"Wait, wait, can you just give it a bit longer—" Robin practically begged the men, both glancing at each other as they took the headphones off of her, ushering Dustin and Steve away from her as they moved her onto the stretcher.

"No, no, no," Dustin cried to himself, "I'm her brother! I'm coming with!" He dragged his leg as fast as he could, chasing after the two men.

But Steve just stood there and watched his girlfriend taken away on the stretcher, his biggest fear turning into reality, not knowing what the Hell was going to happen. If she would be okay.

"Steve, are we going to the hospital?" Robin repeated herself, her throat tight as she tried to fight the tears from her chest.

But the words just echoed around him as he felt the room spin, unable to stop as he hunched himself over to let the pressured sick spill from his stomach and onto the floor in front of him. Robin jumped forward and patted him on the back as he spat the remnants out.

"Oh God," he crouched down and head his head. "This can't happen, Robin, I— I—"

"Come here," Robin almost cooed the boy, she had never seen him so panicked, and although she felt the same, the excruciating fear for her best friend, she had to be there for him.

Little did the two know that Daphne's physical body may have been there, somehow, but she in fact, was not.

And as the gang came to the conclusion that they had all lost to Vecna, that their fight wasn't enough, they had in fact made a crack in his mind, in the Upside Down, and in the written rules.

Something was coming.