"Hey, you remember what I said last year, right? We're Zombie Boy and Ghost Boy. I'm not ever gonna leave you."
"Promise?"
"One hundred percent."
***
In which Alistair fights the monster that possessed his friend alongside his friends, while trying...
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Chapter Sixty-Three: After The Curse
(Dear Billy, Pt. 8)
***
They returned back to the lobby of the lab thanks to Rowan and her teleportation powers after they hugged and processed Alistair had survived the curse. And that was where the others found them, sitting in the centre of the lobby, Rowan and Cami not far from Alistair and Hugin on his shoulder, headphones over his ears as I'm Still Standing played.
The minute Dustin and Lucas saw him, they tackled Alistair in a tight hug that nearly crushed the breath out of his lungs, but Alistair didn't care as he hugged his friends back, feeling them shake as they kept holding him like if they let go, he'd be dead, and that made Alistair's crack. When they let go, Max was the next one to hug him and Alistair felt so much relief they both survived, but as they hugged, she whispered, "What was your song?"
Alistair swallowed, then whispered, "I'm Still Standing. Yours?"
"Running Up That Hill," Max answered, and grew silent as she just hugged him tighter and Alistair hugged her just as tightly back. The both of them survivors of Vecna's curse thanks to music, but knowing how close they came—that they might still be marked by the curse, that Vecna could come back to kill them if they stopped listening to the protection of the music.
And in Max's embrace, Alistair felt her anger he didn't at least tell her he was cursed, her relief he survived. Alistair returned it with an apology, and his own all-consuming relief she survived, that she was okay.
They both survived. But that didn't mean they weren't still in danger the minute the music was gone.
When they finally pulled apart, that was the moment Alistair saw as everyone deciding to leave and head back home. Not that Alistair was complaining—he wanted to get away from Hawkins Lab as quickly as he could.
So they left, putting Alistair's bike in the back of Nancy's car as he, Cami, Dustin, Rowan and Steve went in Steve's car while Nancy, Robin, Valerie, Lucas and Max went in Valerie's car and they drove away from Hawkins Lab. None of them gave it a second look back—that hellhole didn't deserve it.
The drive was silent except for the music still playing in Alistair's ears, no one talking during it as they went back to the Wheeler house, even Hugin silent from where he was in Alistair's backpack, and when they arrived, everyone piled out to head inside. No one had requested a ride home—after what had happened to him and Max, after Vecna had nearly killed them, the Party wanted to stay in one place and keep an eye on the cursed, in case Vecna tried to come back, music or no music. To make sure they would be okay.
As Alistair made to get out, Rowan turned to him and asked, "Can we talk?"
Alistair tensed, but he nodded and got out, knowing exactly what his sister wanted to talk about. She followed after him, and the siblings stood in front of the car. The seconds passed, silence broken by Elton John still singing in Alistair's ears, neither sibling wanting to make the first move to talk about what had happened.
