tried to change the ending, peter losing wendy.
[ steve harrington x original character ]
[ book three in the folklore trilogy ]
[ stranger things four ]
STATUS: COMPLETED
[ STARTED: february 25th, 2023 ]
[ FINISHED: june 17th, 2023 ]
cover by @-swr...
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chapter twelve: traced
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MORNINGS WERE ALWAYS sort of a guilty pleasure for Serenity.
Now, don't get her wrong, she hated waking up early, but whenever she did, she always found solace in the morning light and how it casted a golden glow on everything.
Yet right now, in Max's trailer — where they had moved to — Serenity didn't find any peace. She was absolutely tired. Serenity had been running on no sleep, plus with the combination of wandering around the woods, swimming to the bottom of the lake, beating up some Demo-Bats, walking through the Upside Down, and biking a good seven miles, she was downright exhausted. Her clothes and hair were stiff from her swim in the lake, and grime stuck to her skin like glue. Everything on her body was in tatters.
Nancy had obviously been left very shaken up after what happened to her. From the very few words she had spoken to them since coming back from nothing short of a mind prison, she had revealed that Vecna didn't want to kill her. All he wanted to show her was some visions — which definitely weren't good — and to tell her a message. That message was that Vecna's true identity was Henry Creel, who was One, the very first subject at Hawkins Lab to have powers. He had been brought in after killing his mother and sister in the very same way he killed the rest of his victims, and the very same way he could've killed Serenity.
Vecna being One had been a plot twist, but him being Victor Creel's son felt like an absolute punch to the stomach.
Serenity sat on the couch, her head resting against Steve's shoulder while their hands were tightly interlocked between them. All of them were gathered around Nancy, tear tracks decorating her blotchy face.
"He showed me things that haven't happened yet," Nancy told them, her voice hoarse. "The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire, dead soldiers. And this . . . this giant creature with . . . a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then . . . he showed me my mom. And Holly. Mike. And they . . . they were all . . ."
Nancy didn't even have to say what she saw. Serenity already knew. She pushed her head a little further into Steve's shoulder, averting her gaze to their hands. Ever since this whole Upside Down thing started, she had been absolutely horrified that one of her kids would end up dead by the world. It could've been Will, but he managed to survive.
Even after that, a dread sunk into her chest every time she thought about the Upside Down ripping something so important away from her. It was strange to think that she would be the one ripped away from everyone else if it hadn't been for Journey.
