Hidden Within the Shadows

mind games

Adrian stared up at the ceiling, dread in the pit of his stomach. "What's happening?" he asked. Nancy was standing still, and Steve was shouting her name, getting no response, even when he shook her shoulders.

Max was the one to break it to him, face pale. "Vecna has her."

No. Vecna was not going to take Nancy from him, even after all the shit she'd done to him.

Adrian looked around and turned the TV on. It came to a news channel, and he changed channels until static was on the screen. He turned up the audio of the white noise and grabbed the bandanna hanging from Eddie's back pocket.

"Whoa, hey, what are you doing?" Eddie asked, turning around to look at him. Dustin and Robin did the same. Dustin seemed to realise what was about to happen.

"Finding my stupid sister," he said, sitting down beside the tv. "I'll find her,"

Eddie knelt down in front of him, scared out of his mind. "How?"

"The Void,"

Adrian pulled the bandanna over his eyes and concentrated.

The Void was what it always was, a vast emptiness with the floor covered in a thin layer of water. Adrian didn't think about what the Void was. He found Nancy's body, her mind not present in it.

"Nancy?" he asked, and his voice echoed throughout the Void.

"She's still gone," came Eddie's voice, distant and so very far away.

Adrian reached out for her hand and took it in both of his. He tilted his head a little, hyping himself up. "Here we go."

The Void melted into what looked like the Upside Down. He'd had enough of that shithole to last him a lifetime. Nancy came to life beside him, and he realised they were stuck in a pool. He didn't know where they were, but he could hazard a guess - the pool Barbara had vanished in, Harrington's pool.

"Found her," he said and knew his physical form said it. He was staring at her shocked face.

"Song - favourite song!" Eddie yelled, voice more distant than before, faint on Adrian's ears.

"Nancy," Adrian said. "I've come for you. What's your favourite song?"

Nancy shook her head, and her eyes landed on something. He twisted around and looked at the thing. It - it had been a long time since he'd seen Barbara Holland, and this twisted, mangled corpse of hers was horrifying to see.

"Do you remember what you did, Nancy?" came the voice of Vecna. It was a deep thing, rumbling and settling in their bones. "Or have you already forgotten? When I kill someone ... I never forget,"

Nancy grabbed onto Adrian's arm, and he was not letting Vecna do this to her. "Up we go," he said, jerking his head upwards, and Nancy flew up and out of the swimming pool. Adrian twisted his hands and pushed down before he felt the power lift him up and out of the pool as it started to fill with blood. But then they weren't near the pool, and instead were on some broken stairs from a house. What the hell was this?

The sky above them was red, redder than the Upside Down. They weren't there, not really. Adrian realised where they were, inside Vecna's mind. There was debris floating around, thunder booming. The buildings were broken and damaged, hard to discern - was it the old Creel house? They had to get out of there soon. Adrian knew he was lucky that Vecna hadn't thrown him out of his mind yet.

"Nancy, what is your favourite song?" he asked, taking her by the shoulders.

She looked at him, confused for a second. "Uh, I don't  - I don't know! Um - Africa by Toto," she said, and her voice came through on the TV for the others to hear. "You always said it wrong," she added quietly. Adrian remembered, how he'd always mess it up.