"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter One-Hundred-And-Fifty-Five: Rowan, Nancy, Wake Up
(Papa)
***
Rowan didn't know how long she had been running for.
Her boots stomped across the linoleum of the blood-stained corridors of Hawkins Lab, echoing dully as lights flickered and screams ricocheted in haunting echoes against the walls. Twisted bodies laid in the corridors, and as she ran through them she saw doors wrenched up, more broken bodies inside those rooms, more blood, more death.
More destruction and pain wrought by Vecna.
Her heart ached for these kids, these forgotten victims of Vecna, but she couldn't focus on them, on the revelations that she had been shown.
She needed to find Nancy. She needed to get them both out of here.
"Nancy!" Rowan screamed as she paused to turn around, her hair whipping around her as she bellowed at the top of her lungs, "Nancy, where are you!? Nance, can you hear me!? Nancy! NANCY!"
No response came back.
Fear threatened to grip her, but Rowan swatted it aside as she made to run again.
And that was when she heard it.
"NO!"
Nancy.
Rowan whirled, and sprinted down the corridor toward Nancy.
***
"Rowan, just stay with me. Stay with me, okay? You have to stay with me, okay?!" Steve begged, gripping Rowan's shoulders in a death grip as she remained frozen, still in the throes of Vecna's curse. Behind him, Leo was doing the same to Nancy, who was just as frozen, just as in much danger as Rowan.
Turning to the gate, Steve shouted, "Whatever you guys are doing, hurry up!"
"Harrington's right! Hurry the fuck up right now, guys!" Leo yelled, his voice as frayed as Steve's.
On the other side, Steve heard Erica yell, "Steve and Leo said you need to hurry!" before he turned back to Rowan. His heart was rocketing in his chest, beating faster and faster as fear choked him every time he looked at Rowan, every minute she didn't wake up, every second she was still in that bastard's claws. Steve knew Rowan was a fighter—knew she'd be giving him hell—but he was still fucking terrified.
He couldn't lose Rowan. Damn it, he could not lose her.
"Stay with me, Rowan," he begged. "Just stay with me, okay? You're a fighter, you're more of a fighter than I've ever been, so goddamnit, fight him, Rowan! Give him fucking hell and come back to me! I can't lose you, okay?I can't fucking lose you. Not after everything. So please, just stay with me!"
