𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙥! 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙤𝙣

SCENE THIRTY FIVE. gives you hell

lucas bid the group a good luck as he made his way to the door, erica telling them all to get a grip and kill him before her eyes landed on piper. she smiled slightly.

"slit his throat." she grinned and piper nodded, the girl following her brother as max stood.

"you were the older sibling i needed." the girl spoke, rushing over to the girl who stood for her. wrapping her arms around the older girls waist, burying her head in her chest.

"max, stop i will cry. give him hell?" piper commented, trying to lighten the mood slightly.

"i love you." max cried as she finally pulled away, grabbing her lantern as she headed for the door.

"don't die." and the ginger girl stepped outside, facing the house she could possibly die in. and she cracked her neck before following the sinclair siblings towards the house. give him hell rang in her mind. do it for piper, max. and the rv rolled away. piper had wanted to be with max, making sure she was okay when tricking vecna. but she wanted to kill him herself. she wanted him to feel the pain he was putting them in. she wanted to be the one to finish it. as his being. she was not his child, because he was not her father. the rv drove smoothly to the trailer park, where they were gonna climb through the gate and kill him. this was it. her blood was as cold as ice as she prepared. the group didn't know this but max hadn't been the only one to prepare for her own death. a bunch of tapes stuffed under her pillow. goodbye for people she cared for.

"okay, i'm going to run through it one more time. phase one?" nancy spoke, the rv parked in the woods near the trailer park. the night had long since settled in. dark clouds falling over hawkins.

"we meet erica at the playground., she'll signal to max and lucas when we're ready." robin commented and nancy nodded.

"phase two?"

"max baits vecna, so he'll go after her, which'll put him in his trance." steve adds and she nods again.

"phase three?"

"me and eddie draw the bats away." dustin speaks, the image of them being eaten alive settles deep in piper's mind once more. she hoped it was just imaginary, she hoped what he had shown her to be fake. not real.

"phase four?"

"we head in vecna's, hopefully batfree lair and.." piper starts.

"flambe." robin adds, looking over to smile at the girl who winks at her.

"nobody moves on to the next phase until we've copied. nobody deviates from the plan. no matter what. got it?" nancy stresses, glaring at every single one of them but she does take an extra second on piper. the girl understands the girl's stress for what piper would do if max's phase messes up. unhinged. unpredictable. something she did not want to see.

"got it." the group repeats and they stand, each one moving for the door. almost like dolls being controlled. piper walks alongside steve, in the chest pocket of her vest was pocket knife. the pistol in the gun holder on her chest. the machete placed in her bag. where more bottles of gasoline were held. a lighter in her left pocket. they entered eddie's trailer as swiftly as they could. making sure not to be spotted.

"be careful." piper comments, and steve nods at her. leaning over to press the soft kiss to her temple.

"always am." he speaks and she finds herself scoffing as he started to climb the makeshift rope. lifting himself up into the gate. watching as he flips himself over. the boy landing swiftly on his feet before looking up at the three girls looking up at him.

"woah, what does he want us to do? applaud?" robin sarcastically comments and piper giggles before clapping her hands together lightly. steve who had dragged the matress over grins up at her. doing a small bow as robin looks over at her in both disbelief and disgust.

"literally sicking." she comments and piper shrugs her shoulders with a smile before steve comments her name. motioning that he wants her to go next. but nancy pipes up about going next. so she shrugs her bag off and robin kneels on the floor. letting the girl use her almost as a step. as the girl reaches for the rope. piper can't help but notice the small glint in robin's eyes as she looked at nancy. it was... interesting.

"now its your go pip." steve shouts and she sighs. taking a sharp breath as she nods. she too shrugs of her bag. handing it to robin. piper looks up the two on the other side before to the rope. the memory of last time painting in her mind.

"i've got you, don't be scared." steve calls, piper clears her throat as she grabs the rope. eddie stood the side watching in awe as the girl used her cheerleading strength to pull herself up the rope. she feels light for a moment, then the thud as she hits the matress comes next. she let out the breath. made it. and steve reaches out his hand for her, tugging ehr up as robin readies to throw the bag up. they knew how more dangerous it was for piper to be on the this side without music so 'i will survive' played on her headphones. ironic, isn't it? they head outside, re-equipped. the upside is different compared to the mere few hours ago when they were here. its darker, scarier. he knows. and steve spins on his heel to face eddie and dustin.

"hey guys, listen. if things here start to go south, i mean at all. you abort. okay draw the attention of the bats. keep em busy for a minute or two. we'll take care of vecna. don't try and be cute or be a hero or something. okay you guys are just-" steve starts, ordering the two boys.

"decoys. don't worry. you can be the hero, steve."

"absolutely, i mean look at us. we are not heroes."

"eddie, don't do something stupid." piper cries softly, wrapping her arms around eddie shoulders as she pulls him in for a hug. the smell no longer bothering her. already knowing she properly smelt bad herself. he smiles, patting her back before she pulls away. pressing the lightest kiss to his cheek, his face painted red as she moves over to dustin.

"you were always my favourite son." she smiled and he ignores the sting of tears in his eyes. the girl he thought of as a older sister. hugs him softly. and the four were walking. walking away from eddie and dustin. not even knowing if she would see them again. the woods are scarier this time, denser. thicker. darker. vinier.

dangerous.