Chapter Text
Was this what death felt like?
She felt like she was floating. Everything hurt, but it also felt numb. She couldn’t quite understand it.
She tries to focus on her senses.
Sight.
Gone. She doesn’t know how to describe her sight.
Everything is a blurry mess. She can just barely sense the blue luminance from the fly-trappers they’d brought into the house.
Touch.
Nothing. She felt nothing.
Smell.
Blood. So much blood.
Taste.
She could taste the metallic crimson in her mouth, flooding it with every word she spoke.
Hearing.
Oh, this was her favorite sense.
Because she could still hear his voice.
His beautiful voice.
The voice she’d craved to hear for the past eight months.
Him.
Her love.
But now, his voice was nothing short of terrified. Terrified… for her.
Because here she lay, in his arms. Limbs snapped, eyes clouded, blood coating the room.
“I’m here, Max! I’m here!”
He was repeating to her.
She shakily opened her jaw and forced herself to speak. “Lucas, I’m scared. I’m so scared. I’m so scared!”
She didn’t care about feeling weak. She’d take the feeling of weakness around those who saw her as a stronger individual over hearing his cries. Over feeling like this.
“I know, I know, but we’re gonna get you some help, okay?”
He pleaded with her. Pleaded for her to understand. He wanted her to stay so badly.
Oh, how she wanted to stay with him forever, too.
He didn’t know just how badly.
“I don’t want to die, I'm not ready!” She wailed.
“You’re not gonna die!”
“I don’t wanna go, I’m not ready!”
“You’re not gonna die! Just hang on!”
She felt a pull coming from under her. Like the familiar waves of the ocean.
She wanted to stay here, but she was losing her grip. His voice seemed to be getting further and further away.
“Lucas? Are you still here?” She tried to ask, but all that came out were choked noises, gasping for breath.
She could faintly hear him calling out her name.
Before the end came.
Before she felt herself slip.
Before she was no longer here.
—
…
Where was she?
She felt a familiar sensation under her hands—wait… felt?
She could feel things again.
Her eyes were closed.
She slowly blinked her eyes open, and winced as the sharp, blinding sun hit them.
She groaned. Was it all a dream?
She gained the strength to roll over on her side, finally opening her eyes.
Sand.
She was surrounded by sand.
Her limbs were intact again.
What is going on?
Slowly, she rose from the sand, lifting up her body to get a look around the area.
She was on a beach.
But not just any beach.
Her beach.
The beach she, her mother and her father lived at in California, all those years ago.
Her heart swelled with emotion.
Then everything came back to her.
Lucas.
The Party.
Vecna.
Eleven.
Death.
Blood.
Gone.
Everything hit her all at once.
She died.
So why is she here?
“Hello?” She called out. Her throat felt parched. “Is anybody here?”
The ground started to rumble.
The ocean started to rise, racing towards her.
She instinctively curled into a ball, bracing for impact, but it never came.
She opened her eyes again, and to her amazement, she was surrounded by water, in an underwater bubble of sorts. She saw fish and sea life swimming right next to her.
She gasped, taking in the wonderful sight around her.
Walking shakily, she approached the wall of water and put her hand through it.
“Holy shit…” she murmured with awe. This was beautiful.
She saw in her reflection that she still had cloudy, bloody eyes and snapped arms.
Confusion and uneasiness surged through her veins. Her arms and eyes were perfectly fine.
Then she remembered. “Wait, no. I need to get back. I need to go back!”
“Back?”
She froze.
The familiar voice came from behind her.
She shakily turned around.
In the reflection of the other side of the water was… her.
But not her normal self.
Her. From 1984. In the same yellow jacket she wore the day Dart escaped.
“You want to go back?”
She cringed at the higher pitched voice. “Yes. I do.”
Her reflection looked lost in thought. Then she nodded. “Okay, Come here.”
She uneasily approached the other wall of water.
“Press your hand on the surface.”
She did as told.
Her reflection copied.
And then she felt an overwhelming surge of pain course through her body. Everything hurt. Her limbs, her eyes, her head.
She screamed and felt her legs buckle underneath her, causing her to collapse. She ripped at her hair.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?” She screamed.
“I’m sending you back.” The monotone voice replied.
“NO! YOU’RE HURTING ME!” Her screeches echoed through the water.
“You‘ll understand soon enough.”
“Max!?”
There it was.
It was his voice.
She was going back to him.
“Lucas?” She wailed.
“Yeah! I’m here, we’re here! What’s going on?!”
“Holy shit!”
“What’s wrong with her?!”
“What the hell just happened?!”
The pain started to fade. Her eyes still remained closed, squeezing them shut until the pain fully ceased.
Her sides still heaved. She felt a warmth beside her, holding her in its arms.
“Jesus…” She heard an annoyingly familiar voice murmur in the corner.
“Can you look at me?” Lucas asked.
“I…” She croaked. “I don’t know…”
“It’s okay, you’re safe. It’s just us.”
“And Dart!” Another voice her mind screamed to remember.
“He doesn’t count!” The annoying voice scolded.
She groaned. “Mmm, quiet…” Her head was still aching.
Lucas must have repeated what she said, because all the noise in the room ceased.
“Ugh, I think I died…” she murmured.
“No, you’re alive.” Lucas replied.
The silence was overbearing.
“Okay, what happened?” She finally recognized the voice as Dustin’s.
“What do you mean…?” Max hissed through her teeth. “This was the plan!”
“Plan? What plan?”
“Jesus, and I thought my memory was bad. You guys are hopeless…” She grumbled into Lucas’s jacket.
Wait… jacket? He wasn’t wearing a jacket.
“Where’d you get the jacket…?”
“Uh… I think it was a Christmas gift last year, I don’t remember.”
“No… you didn’t have one…” She whispered. She still hasn't opened her eyes yet. Maybe it was her brain playing tricks on her.
“What?” To say he was confused would be an understatement.
She gently pulled away from his embrace and rubbed her wet eyes. Wet eyes. Blood. She’s bleeding.
She finally gained the courage.
She slowly lifted her eyelids.
The silence was deafening.
The first thing she noticed was this:
She wasn’t in the Creel House anymore.
She was in the AV Club.
The AV Club in the Middle School.
She looked down at her hands.
Her bloody hands.
Blood stained her sweater. Her face. Her hair. But she had no wounds.
“Okay. I’ll ask it again.”
She slowly raised her gaze.
“What happened?!”
Her eyes met Dustin’s.
But not the Dustin she knows.
The old Dustin.
1984 Dustin.
Her eyes scanned the room.
Her eyes met Mike’s. His disdainful, yet curious gaze.
Her eyes met Will’s. His scared and worried hazel orbs scanned hers intently.
Her eyes met Lucas’s. Those beautiful brown eyes she’d always loved to look in.
Her eyes met the creature in Dustin’s hands.
The one who caused the chain of events to begin in 84.
Her breathing picked up again.
With one sharp inhale, she yelled.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!”