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_______ c h a p t e r s i x t y - t h r e e
By now, El had already jumped from Sam's mind to Max's, luckily getting there in the knick of time to take Vecna on. Unfortunately, Vecna seemed to be as powerful as ever, capturing them both in his clutches.
"El?" Bianca furrows her eyebrows as the girl begins shaking violently in the water. "Something's wrong."
"I thought she was fighting him," Jonathan glances over, concern in his tone.
"Yeah, well, she's losing," Bianca retorts as El begins gasping for air. "We have to get her out."
The brunette was already experiencing emotional whiplash at the revelation that her sister was gonna be fine, but instead, her best friend was this close to being Vecna's last victim. This only made the fear in her heart ten times worse.
"El, wake up! El, come on!" Mike shakes her shoulder, but she only coughs harder.
"El, come on," Bianca frantically tries to bring her back. "You have to get out of there. Wake up!"
When she continues to writhe, Mike stands, calling out for help as he lifts one side of her out of the water, Bianca and Jonathan helping him carry her to the table.
"El, can you hear me?" Bianca grabs her hand, tears filling her eyes. "El, come on, please."
"Bee," Mike touches her shoulder, encouraging eyes meeting hers. "You can do this. If anyone can save her, it's you. Heart, remember?"
She looks to Will for confirmation, earning an enthusiastic nod in response.
Taking a deep breath, she turns back to El. "I'm like seventy percent sure you can hear me. And hopefully, you can or else that'll be really embarrassing. But I'm here, just like always, okay?"
Mike grabs her other hand, providing her some comfort as she continues.
"I know you can make it out of there, okay? Because you're Wonder Woman, remember? You are not a monster, El. You are the hero. Without you, I don't know where I'd be, and I'm not just talking about the Upside Down or your powers. You're my best friend, El. And every day I'm so grateful that we found you in the woods. Because I gained a sister that day."
She squeezes harder as she continues, failing to fight the tears spilling onto her cheeks.
"And I know things have been hard, I know. But no matter what, you always have me in your corner. You taught me that I can do whatever I want. That I could be whatever I want. You taught me that being different is what makes us special. Okay? You changed my life. So I need you to do one more thing for me. I need you to fight."
The lights begin to flicker again and her breathing evens out, showing that the speech worked.
"Yeah, El. Fight. End this," she encourages. "Fight!"
