(3) Till Death Do Us Part (Max Mayfield/ (Fem) You)

-Chapter 7: The Monster and The Superhero-

We stop outside Ms. Kelley's house and stare. "Well, we're here." Steve says, slightly annoyed. We all turn to look at Max, watching as the redhead does nothing but stare at the house. "Hey" I say, touching her hand lightly. She turns her head to me. "Huh?" She says, as if snapping out of a daze. "We're here." I repeat Steve's words, gesturing outside. "O-oh yeah." She says, clearing her throat. "I...Yeah, let's do this." She says before tugging the handle and opening the door of the car. "You got this, Max." I say, to which she gives me a small smile before closing the door.

The three of us watch as Max crosses the street, approaching the front door of Ms. Kelley's house. I watch as she rings the doorbell and hold my breath as we wait. A few moments later, the front door swings open and I see our school councillor. She greets Max with a surprised smile, and although I can't hear what they're saying, I can tell Ms. Kelley is buying whatever Max is saying. She then steps aside, allowing Max inside and shuts the door behind them. "Okay, she's in." Steve says. Dustin looks at Steve, furrowing his eyebrows. "I'm missing collarbones, not eyes." Dustin says, annoyed. I look at the door. "C'mon, Max." I mutter, watching the door like a hawk.

"You know, things won't go faster if you just stare at it." Dustin says. I turn my head and notice that he is now looking at me, twisted in the front seat. "Y-yeah I know." I mutter before huffing a breath and crossing my arms. Steve sighs, turning in his seat as well. "You still like her, don't you." he asks, lifting a brow. "I...Yeah, I do." I mutter in response. "I mean, c'mon. We've been together for like..." "Forever?" Dustin asks. I give him a pointed look before continuing. "I..I love her. Those 3 months that we've been broken up is like, I don't know... confusing." I add, glancing at the door again. "I get it." Steve says. "3 months is barely anything when it comes to feelings. Hell, it's been years and sometimes, I'd reminisce on old times..." Steve adds. It's about Nancy again. "I'm sure she loves you too. You were...no, ARE in love. So unless she's some kind of robot which can reboot their feelings, there is no way she's gotten over you." Steve adds, as if it were final.

I sigh, looking at the door again. "Sure..." I say as the car laps back into silence for a few seconds before Dustin speaks up again. "So, we gonna talk about it?" He asks "Huh? Sorry, talk about what?" Steve asks. "Your temporary insanity earlier today when you basically threw yourself at Nance?" Dustin clarifies and I chuckle. "That's not what happened." Steve mutters. "Pretty sure that's what happened." Dustin retorts. "It was public. There were a lot of witnesses." Dustin says before gesturing to me. Steve glances at me and I nod slowly. "Are you implying I still have a thing for Nance?" He asks. "I'm not implying. I'm stating. And, as it relates to your steadfast refusal to date Robin, it's pretty much the only logical explanation." Dustin explains. I choke on air as I hear that and chuckle lightly. "What?" Dustin asks. "That's not the only reason..." I mutter before Steve cuts in "And as for Nance, I was just trying to protect a friend...A friend, Henderson. Okay?" Steve concludes. "Okay..." Dustin says.

"Don't wanna find her with her eyes sucked out of her skull by this Vecna creep." Steve mutters, sitting back in his chair. "Your face is bright red right now." I say, causing Steve to get redder. Dustin starts cackling in his seat. "I'm not. I don't wanna talk about it." Steve says before watching Dustin with narrow eyes. "I'll punch you so hard your teeth will fall back out." He says. Dustin raises his eyebrows in surprise. "Whoa, okay, that was a bit far." I say. Steve immediately looks regretful. "Not cool. Sorry." He says immediately. "It's okay." He says, sitting back as we all go back into silence.
A few moments later, the front door of Ms. Kelley's house swings open and Max jogs out. "She's coming." I say, leaning back from the window and sitting properly as Max yanks the car door open and hops in. "What'd she say?" Steve asks. "Nothing. Just drive." Max says in a hurried tone. I know that something is off and turn to Steve. "Steve..." I say. He looks at me. "What?" He asks. "Drive." I say. He turns back, noticing the urgent tone in our voices before he steps on the pedal and the car races down the road. "Wait, where are we going?" Steve says, turning down a random road. I look over at Max, watching as she looks behind us before answering. "Hawkins High."

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Out of the car now, we all sneak towards the big building that is Hawkins High. "All clear." Dustin says as he moves forward, closer to the school. The rest of us follow, quietly and watching our surroundings. Suddenly, the walkie crackles from Dustin's backpack. "Dustin, do you copy?" Robin's voice rings through. "Yeah, I copy." He says back, waiting and moving forward again. "So, Nancy's a genius. Vecna's first victims date back all the way to 1959. Her shot in the dark was a bull's-eye" Robin says. We reach the doors of the school and push the door open. "Okay, that's totally bonkers, but I can't really talk right now." Dustin says quickly as we shut the door behind us. "What are you doing?" We round a corner as Max takes the lead, bringing us to the office. "Breaking and entering school to retrieve confidential and extremely personal files." Dustin says nonchalantly.

There is a moment of silence as static fills the air. "Can you repeat that?" Robin's voice rings through. I sigh, grabbing the walkie. "Just get over here. We'll explain everything then." I say. I stuff the walkie back into Dustin's bag as we enter the office. Steve and Dustin chat about watergate and 'hawkins-gate'...I don't even know. I follow Max to the drawers that are at the side of the room. She yanks one open and scans the letters before moving on to the next one. I scan the row of letters. A....B...I notice a file and grab it. "Fred Benson." I mutter as Max pulls Chrissy's file. She looks over. "Holy shit." She says. "You found it?" The boys ask as we turn "Yeah, and not just Chrissy's file." She says, taking Fred's file from my hands. "Fred was seeing Ms. Kelley too." She adds.

She hands Fred's file to Steve as she sits at the desk, opening Chrissy's file. She scans it, brows furrowing as she does. She stops, turning to Steve. "Can I see Fred's file?" She asks. "Yeah." Steve says, handing it to Max. She reads, eyes getting wider as her gaze goes distant. "Max?" I ask. She doesn't react, just continues to stare forward. "Hey, what's wrong?" I ask, watching the girl carefully. Nothing. "Max? What is it?" Steve asks, the three of us waiting for a response. Nothing. I pull the file out of her hands, seeing if that gets her attention, but it doesn't. She just sits there, frozen in her seat and gazing at nothing, wide eyed. I grab her shoulders and shake her lightly. "Max." I say. When no response is heard, I shake her more. "Hey, Max. Max!" I shout, shaking her. Nothing.

Dustin grabs the files, scanning them to see what she saw while Steve places his hands on his head. "Shit." He mutters as I wave my hand in front of her face, fear edging it's way into my mind. Shit. Come back to me, Max.

Then as if life got thrown back into her body, Max gasps, eyes darting around the room as she looks around. "Max." I say, making her look at me. "What happened?' I ask. She just stares at me, shaking and I take her hands. "I...I saw..." She starts. "Saw what?" Steve asks just as Nancy and Robin appear at the doorway. "I saw a clock. A grandfather clock. Just...ticking in the hallway. It was....Like, inside the wall." She says. I furrow my eyebrows. "What?" I ask. "It was just..." She starts before getting up and running out of the room. We all follow her to the corridors where she points her flashlight at the dead end. At the wall. "It was right here." Max says, not believing her eyes. "A grandfather clock?" Nancy asks, confused. Max doesn't answer. Just stares at the wall before snapping back into attention. "I know what I saw..." She says.

"Maybe it was a vision." I say. "Max, you were like...staring at nothing. For a long time. I couldn't wake you." I say. Max looks at me, eyes widened before we all stare at the wall. While we do, I hear Max mutter to herself. "I'm having visions....shit."

Word count: 1535