MARLEY // Max Mayfield

Alt Act 4 Epilogue B - Canon

Over time, the planks of Theseus' ship succumbed to rot and decay. It was replaced part by part, to the point that no physical element of the ship belonged to its original; it held its name, its memories and had always been known as the Ship of Theseus throughout its transformation; however, the question still stands:

Is it still the Ship of Theseus?

Marley stared at the wall with one good eye; the other burned and throbbed, boiling in this heat. The AC blew, so harsh it rang in her ears, and she twitched, letting out a breath as she stood from Max's hospital bed, shirt sticking to her sweat-slicked back as she approached the window and peered down below. Steve was climbing out of his car, keys spinning on his finger, hair bouncing in the wind. Marley's brow jerked, her disfigured hand clenching the windowsill with a strength that made the wood creak.

The heart monitor beeped steadily behind her, the only sound in the otherwise eerily quiet room. Marley didn't even breathe; her chest heaved with the motion, but nothing left her lips as she turned and stared down at Max, at the wires in her skin, at the hospital gown that hadn't been changed in a week, the bruises under her eyes, around her throat, the casts wrapped around each limb.

Slowly, Marley reached out with her scarred arm, a flicker of something in her eye - she was inches away, finger tips brushing a strand of dull red hair, when her left hand lurched out and grabbed it. She froze. Sudden. Sharp.

The door opened.

"Mars," Steve smiled, and Marley flinched, letting out a real breath of air. For a moment, she remained frozen, blinking out of her daze, "You blacked out again? I gotta tell you, Mars, the doctors need to check that out."

"They have," Marley sighed and rubbed the furrow between her brows. It had been a week since she had awoken, a week since the Doctors had told her they were unsure of when and if Max would wake. In that time, the Byers had returned from California, Mike and Eleven in tow, with stories of their escapades, the lengths they had gone to and Eleven's rescue from a lab. All stories they told Marley over the sound of Max's steady heart.

"Any improvement?" Steve asked tentatively, and Marley looked at him, her brows twitching. Steve crossed his arms tightly, eyes drifting down to Max. He chewed on the inside of his cheek. "I guess that's a no."

"Yeah," Marley said shortly, her right hand jerking against the hospital bed, she glanced at the stereo and pressed rewind on the finished tape. Kate Bush began to play in the background. "How is the High School?"

"Good. Better..." he trailed off, unable to look Marley in the eye, "that -- that box of stuff in the attic did some good, you know? All of your baby clothes and things."

Marley remained silent.

"Have you spoken much to Hopper?"

She snapped her gaze to Steve. Hopper had come back alive days ago; the reunion had been tearful but distinctly lacking in something. Something deep in Marley's chest. "Why?"

"You just...you used to talk to him. Deep stuff. Stuff you don't say to me," Steve sighed, hands on his hips, shoulders tense with something almost defensive. He looked away and around the room, jaw clenched. "He was kind of like a dad to --"

"Eleven's his kid," Marley sighed and raised her hand to brush through Max's hair. A dull static rang in her ears, muffling the room, the corners of her vision darkening like a vignette filtering in around the edges of a photograph. She blinked and found herself by the window when she opened her eyes. "Christ," she sighed and covered her empty eye socket. It ached.

"What?"

"I blacked out."

"You were talking," Steve frowned, and Marley shook her head.

"Don't remember."

"...let me book in another appointment," Steve suggested, stepping closer to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. Marley flinched, visions of a Demogorgon's claw digging into her flesh searing into her mind. It had been years since she had thought about that day. The day she woke up in the Upside Down. "Marley, please, I'm worried about you."

"Ok," Marley agreed and turned, unwilling to keep her back to him, she leaned in and hugged him tightly, sighing. "Ok."