𝗨𝗚𝗟𝗬 // 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

057

"I want to go over the plan one more time."

We'd revised it over and over, but Nancy was a perfectionist, crafting every detail to a level that was absolute.

"Phase one, we meet the Sinclairs at the playground," Robin speaks out.

Separate ways, worlds apart.

The song played when the siblings left the trailer, I'm reminded of how Erica ran back and squeezed me tight, telling me I better come back or she'd have to, 'beat that bitches ass.'

"Phase 2," Dustin's turn now, "while me and Eddie draw the bats away, Max and Ruby get ready to bait Vecna."

Steve's eyes flutter slightly, anxiety running through the small space between us as I notice him throw a small glance at Robin, a look of mutual understanding. It worries me only slightly.

"I should've gone with them," I argue the point I've been pushing all evening once more, Steve wraps an arm around my shoulder, "there's no way I'm letting you out of my sight Ruby. Not now."

The plan went like this, me and Max would both bait Vecna by being in a different version of the Creel house,
Either he attacks max to create the final gate, or he gets into my head to stop me being in the house, he can't go into anyone else's in the groups so that would be his main, automatic defence. He's a creature of habit and his weakness is memory, the houses memories.

I tried to beg to go with Max, but we didn't have time for another argument and more tears, time for Steve and Robin to beg me to stay with them.
So I nodded along, making a choice I'd rather I didn't, one I hoped I wouldn't regret.

Either way Vecnas going to attack one of us tonight and even though I want so desperately to live, I still hope it's me. But the way Max looked at me, like she was brave, it reminded me of our conversation.

She didn't want me to be a sacrifice.

While he's distracted, we strike.

I roll my eyes playfully and nudge him before Nancy speaks from the front of the trailer, "and besides, having both bait at a different version of the creel house, it's perfect, he's distracted and vulnerable either way."

I nod, finally losing the battle, but knowing it might help us win the war. As if on cue, Steve is shoving a Walkman in my hands, 'Like a prayer' already on repeat.

"I think you'll find you need this," he stares at me for a long time, as if taking every inch of my face into memory, a photograph in his mind, "I believe in you."

Smirking, a chuckle as I wave the Walkman infront of him, "like a prayer!" The room doesn't appreciate my pun.

"Phase three," Robin shakes the bottle in her hands, "flambé."

Her eyes are watching me, I can feel it as I turn my head back to where Nancy stands, watching carefully as I balance the newly gifted earphones gently on my shoulder.

"Nobody moves on from the next phase until we've all copied," she glares around the room, "nobody deviates from the plan no matter what. Got it?"

A simultaneous nod,

"Got it."

****

The woods of Hawkins speak back to us, the sounds of birds overhead reminiscent of the bats below.

Steve walks beside me, the rest of the group trudging ahead as I notice Robin's occasional nervous glances behind at us. I hang one headphone from my ears, the other still ringing Madonna inside my head.