Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Eighty-Two

Chapter Eighty-Two: You're Losing Me

It was hard, with the lack of oxygen and all, but Annie was getting up. Albeit a little slowly. She heard someone come running over and looked up and saw El, right there, now helping her stand back up.

"Annie, are you okay?" El asked, looking over the girl in front of her.

But Annie was also looking over El, but for a much different reason. "El..." Annie whispered, tears of relief coming to. "I... Are you... are you real?" Annie asked, poking at El's face. She was tired of the people she loved and cared for being used against her by Vecna.

El took one of Annie's hands in both of hers. "I'm real."

"H-how?"

"I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer."

She couldn't help it. Annie burst into laughter at El's words, because she was the only person Annie knew who could deliver such lines so seriously, and she wouldn't get why they were so funny.

Annie pulled El into a hug, holding her as tight as she physically could. "I am so happy that you're here," she whispered.

El hugged her back, holding her just as tight. "Me too."

Annie wanted to say more, because now she actually wanted to know what the El had been talking about. But a creaking in the house stopped her.

The girls looked in the direction of the noise, and Annie saw a giant hole in the wall where El must've thrown Vecna. He was down for a moment, but not forever. They took cautious steps forward and watched Vecna pry himself off the ground.

When he stood up, he did not look very happy. Annie could understand.

"Stay back," El commanded as Vecna started walking forward. Annie looked over at the other girl and only saw determination on her face. When El went to meet Vecna in the middle of the room, Annie did as she said and stayed back. She would do anything to keep El at an advantage.

They finally stopped walking to each other, and El took in a breath.

"If you touch her again, I will kill you again." Her voice was completely steady, and it even sent chills down Annie's spine. She's rarely had the chance to see El so serious, and when she did, she knew it meant shit was going down.

"Is that what you did? Hmm? Did you kill me?" Annie took some extra steps back, not entirely liking the way Vecna was talking. "I am so glad you are here, Eleven. This... is going to be beautiful."

He raised his hands, and along with them came pieces of broken wood. They all pointed to Eleven, and acted as swords almost. "So beautiful. And it's all thanks to you."

Thunder cracked above them, and Annie nearly jumped out of her skin. But she was okay. Not only did she have the people trying to kill Vecna, but she had the ones keeping her safe on the other side. And now, she had Eleven.

Her shoulders slumped, however, when Annie remembered some of what Vecna had shown her. The flashes of Eddie and Dustin being attacked by the bats, and Steve, Robin, and Nancy being held to the walls, suffocating.

Suddenly she felt her chances had suddenly gotten slimmer.

Vecna threw the shards of wood forward, and El deflected them easily. However, Vecna followed quicker than El recovered. He thrusted a hand forward and sent her flying back, crashing into a wall near to Annie.

Then, he picked El up again and threw her into the kitchen, and she slammed into cabinets. When she fell, she landed on the counter first before rolling to the floor.