𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙥! 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙤𝙣

SCENE THIRTY FOUR. to do it for thomas

they found themselves in a empty field. everyone lingered with someone else, all preparing for the fight with vecna. nancy sawed a gun alongside max, dustin and eddie were hammering nails into a shield to make it more dangerous for fighting against the bats. lucas and erica were attempting to make spears, string wrapping the knives onto sticks. robin and steve pouring gasoline into bottles, making diy molotov's. but piper? she sat alone. away from all of them. sat in the field, playing music from her headphones. fame playing softly as she scratched into the pistol. 'don't you know who i am? remember my name... i'm gonna live forever.' thankful for the headphones to drown out the sounds of her swiss knife carving into the slide of the pistol. the name etched into the pistol stared up at her as she finished. running her thumb over the marked metal.

thomas parker

doing it for her brother. the brother who saved. it was time to live up the legacy he had handed to her. to fight for those you love. and she wondered if she were to make goodbyes now just incase. so she stood. the tingling feeling in her mind seemed to grow.

"you can't beat me." his voice spoke. and she rolled her eyes. hearing eddie call her name to get in the rv. this was it.

"you're weak." the voice called again, steve's eyes too focused on the road to notice the slight twitch on piper's face. he continued, shouting words to tip the girl over the edge. he filled her mind with the displays of her friends dying. eddie and dustin being eaten alive by bats. robin hung on a wall by a vein, a clear snap of her neck. nancy's head ripped open. max floating in mid air, bones cracking. lucas and erica being crushed by a house as a crack cut through the middle. and steve, she was shown holding steve. blood filling his lungs, eyes dark as he asked why she killed them.

"eleven is dead. you've already lost." he taunted. the voice never leaving her alone. he was mocking her. she sat frozen in her seat, nancy who sat on the sofa looked over her shoulder to the girl. that gut feeling that something was wrong. she could see the reflection of piper in the window. eyes blank. the whites of her eyes. oh shit.

"i killed your dear tommy, and i'm going to hurt you too."

"piper?" nancy question, the girl twitched as she watched the image of herself watching everyone she cared about give their life to save herself. multiple times over, in multiple different ways. she watched from a third person as herself was dragged to the floor. thick vines wrapping around her knees tugging her to the ground. she could feel the dull ache in her throat as a vine wrapped around her neck. making her look up at people hung on the walls.

"piper!" she screamed, and steve stepped on the break. the rv jerked forward, pulling itself to a harsh stop in the middle of the road. he screamed when he saw her. her eyes rolled back, jaw slacked. but she wasn't like the ones before death by vecna. it was much worse. he wasn't killing her, he was torturing her.

"it's not real!" steve screamed as the girl started to cry, watching the empty tears rolling down her eyes. nancy moving to continue driving as steve dragged piper to the sofa. and he stayed with her, holding her tightly in his arms til vecna exited her mind. the girls rolling back, followed by the painful sobs. sobs that rack over her body. his soft hands holding her close. brushing through her hair. steve made quick work of putting the headphones on her head, he knew they wouldn't work. he was in her head, not trying to get in. and angel eyes played as she looked up at him. tears rolling past her eyes as she looked up at him. and for a moment, she was back in that car.

somehow steve had managed to drop both dustin and robin off before her. leaving the two just driving around with the radio playing softly in the background. angel eyes by abba playing softly on the radio as he hummed the tune. and she couldn't help but smile at his actions. his hair had dried now. and she couldn't help but notice how pretty he looked. he looked warm due to the light of the car, his cheeks were flushed pink from her hot air blowing from the car's air con. he was humming the tune of the song. slurping on the red slushy every couple of seconds that he held in his hand that wasn't holding the wheel.

"steve."

"piper."

both spoke at the same time,and they turned to look at one another laughing softly. and they both returned to just driving. both their words left unsaid.

'look into his angel eyes, one look and you're hypnotised.'

she couldn't help but link it to the boy sitting beside her, the soft brown doe eyes. maybe she did like it. maybe she had fallen for steve harrington. maybe it was his pretty smile with those pink lips that most likely tasted of cherry right now. maybe it was his eyes, those pretty doe eyes that always looked at her worried. maybe it was that stupid hair. or maybe it was just him. the steve harrington that had handed her the cherry ice cream, the steve harrington which had defended her against his old friends. steve harrington noticed something was wrong when she had left the bathroom only minutes before. but she wouldn't tell him. because once again he was steve harrington, the one with the ego as big as his hair. so she swallowed the words she wanted to say.

"i am in love with you steve harrington." the girl cried softly, the boy let out a sigh of relief he didn't even know he was holding. leaning down to peck her lips. and vecna's voice faded away. he was still here, she could feel him. lurking.

"i am going to kill you." she spoke out and she heard the laugh in her mind echoing as he faded. finally leaving her mind to the buzzing void. and the rv came to a stop at the creel house.