Chapter 4

The Final Fight

Luz, Amity, Willow, Gus, Hunter, Camila, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Eleven, Max, Erica, Suzie, Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, Robin, Hopper, Joyce, and Murray were sitting around discussing the plan to hopefully permanently stop Vecna.

"So," said Hopper. "We split up. Vecna will need a long time to recover from the recent attack, so we need to find him. He can't have gone far, so I'm gonna have everyone split into groups to find and finish him. Robin, Will, and Amity will search these woods. Mike, El, Lucas, Erica, Dustin, Suzie, Willow, Hunter, and Gus will check the Creel Mansion and everything around it. Me, Joyce, Jonathan, Nancy, Steve, and Murray will search the rest of the town."

"What about the rest of us?" asked Luz.

"Since you're Vecna's target," said Hopper. "Having you search for him is not the best idea. I'll have your mother and Max stay with you to keep you safe in case we fail…"

"Which is likely," said Erica.

Lucas elbows Erica.

"Just the facts," Erica defended.

"And Vecna tries to kill you again," Hopper finished.

Hopper puts his arm in, and everyone else slowly puts their arms in as well, before raising them into the air.

Everyone makes their way outside the cabin, about to begin their search for Vecna, when Luz stops Amity.

"Please be safe," said Luz.

"I will," said Amity.

The two then share a kiss on the lips that lasted for about half a minute, before they let go of each other and Amity left with the others.

Max stared at Luz.

"You're girlfriends?" asked Max.

"Yeah, said Luz. "We bonded over our shared interest in Azura and slowly gained feelings for each other."

"Back to business," said Max. "What's your favorite song?"

"My favorite song used to be the Good Witch Azura theme song," Luz replied. "But I haven't listened to it much since I came back here from the Demon Realm, and took interest in other songs, so in case the Azura theme song doesn't work, I've come up with some alternatives. 'Never Ending Story' by Limahl, 'Should I stay or Should I Go' by The Clash, 'Running up that Hill' by Kate Bush…"

"Oh my god, that song's my favorite too," Max interrupted. "But I do have a tape of the Azura theme because Lucas and Erica love that series. I never got into it, but I gotta respect their interests."

Max gives Luz the cassette player and some earbuds, and Luz plays the tape, and sits with Camila as they wait for the others to arrive.

Meanwhile, Robin, Will, and Amity were walking through the woods searching for Vecna.

"So, you and Luz are girlfriends?" said Robin.

"Yeah," said Amity. "Why?"

"I just think it's cool seeing another LGBTQ couple," Robin replied. "I'm a lesbian too. I figured I was lesbian when I was in High School. I had a crush on a girl named Tammy, and while we are close, we aren't really there. Tammy has this boyfriend who is a total pain in the…"

Amity covers Robin's mouth. "No need to swear. What about you, Will? Are you..."

"I am gay," Will interrupted. "Don't tell Mike this, but I have a crush on him. It's how I realized I was gay. The main problem is, Mike is in a relationship with El. Sometimes I feel a bit of jealousy but I just want to support my friend."

Robin then forces Amity's hand off her mouth.

"What about you?" she asked. "How did you realize you were into Luz?"

"Well," said Amity. "I was lesbian for as long as I remember, and my parents were okay with that, and that's saying something, because my parents, more specifically my 'mother' was not okay with the friends I was making. My dad was only treating me like my mother was to maintain their relationship. Back to the point, when I met Luz, I hated her because she made an embarrassment out of me by helping Willow, who at the time was an enemy, cheat on a test, but over time, I realized that I actually liked Luz. We bonded over a shared interest in Azura and after Luz got accepted into the school I was going to, I started to like her for her determination and the need to help people, and I realized I had romantic feelings for her, but didn't think it would work out. I wanted to ask her out to Grom, which is the Demon Realm's equivalent to Prom, except the king or queen must face a monster that morphs into your greatest fear. I was chosen to be the queen, and I didn't want to face the monster because my fear was being rejected. Luz took my place as queen and when things got out of hand, I had to save her and together, we danced our way into defeating the monster. Shortly after, I stood up to my parents when they tried to get Luz and my other friends expelled, and after that, I helped Luz with trying to get back to this realm, because at the time, she was stranded in the Demon Realm with no way home, and I wanted to help her get back home because I love her. At some point, I accidentally confessed my feelings but was embarrassed by it, but that's when some weird creature that Luz was living with, Hooty, captured me and had me and Luz go on this little romantic ride under the house Luz was staying at, but Luz thought I wouldn't like how cheesy it was, though I liked it, but Luz destroyed everything in the tunnel and we thought a relationship wouldn't work, but under weird circumstances, we were able to ask each other out and become a couple. Since then, we did things for each other, and though there were issues, like times when Luz refused to open up about her problems, we're still together. There's still one major issue we still have yet to fix, and that's the fact that Luz became more distant ever since we ended up here, and she's just not the same, bright, optimistic Luz that I fell in love with. She's more dark and pessimistic, spending a lot of time cooped up in her room, focusing solely on getting us back to the Demon Realm and gets frustrated whenever we fail at making a portal, to the point where she even blames herself. I would try to get her to open up about it, but I don't want to make her feel rushed, because she's already been through a lot."

Amity turns to see Will crying.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm just so happy you were able to work things out."

That's when they hear rattling in the bushes. Amity brings out Ghost while Robin brings out a flamethrower, and they slowly advance towards the bush.

When they got close, they saw what looked like a small cat come out.

The two lesbians thought that the cat looked cute, but that's when a Demo-Dog lashes out at the cat, eating it up. This causes the lesbians to scream.

Robin fires her flamethrower while Amity casted fire magic, but the Demo-Dog manages to resist the fire and lash out at Robin.

Amity is able to cast a levitation spell to pull the Demo-Dog back and throw him to the side.

The Demo-Dog gets up and charges towards Amity, while she charges back. Amity is able to hit the Demo-Dog hard on the face and send it into the bush it came from.

Amity manages to catch her breath, before the gays were about to continue their search.

That's when the three of them began to levitate. The two looked behind them and saw something that made them worry.

Meanwhile, Mike's group made it to the Creel Mansion. The ten of them got closer and closer towards it. They saw Demo-Bats flying around it.

"Those little shits are still guarding the place," said Dustin.

Suzie elbows Dustin. "Not in front of the kids."

Dustin looks and sees that Hunter was glaring at Dustin while covering Willow's ears, while she was covering Gus's ears.

"Pardon my language," said Dustin. "I'll make sure to never do that again."

"He's lying," Erica said to Hunter.

Lucas elbows Erica.

"Just the facts," Erica defended.

"We don't have time for this," said Mike. "Since these bats are surrounding the place, it's pretty obvious Vecna's already recovered and is hiding out again. We're falling for another trap. Here's the plan: Hunter, Willow, and Gus will distract the bats. We've seen how they put up a good fight against these creatures. Suzie, Erica, the boys and I will enter the attic and distract Vecna, so El can sneak up on him and finish him off."

The witches make their way to the front of the mansion and prepare their palismen. One of the bats sees them and they all fly down.

Hunter grabs Willow while she grabs Gus and they dash out of the way.

Hunter fires a blast from Flapjack on some of the bats, knocking them out.

Willow forms some plants and suffocates some more of them.

Gus takes off and makes illusions of himself to confuse the bats and have them separate and then make them run into each other.

While that was happening, Mike and his group headed for the attic. Everyone except El entered the room while El stayed behind to wait for the signal.

Once Mike and the others entered the attic, the door closed on them.

"If that was El," said Erica. "I am gonna…"

Meanwhile, Willow was barely holding her own against the bats. She was almost overpowered by them, when Hunter dashed towards Willow and saved her. He fired a blast that wiped all the bats heading towards them out. Willow could just stare at Hunter's face in awe before she snapped back to reality.

Meanwhile, Gus was continuing to knock bats off guard with his illusions before taking them down.

By now, all the bats were taken out. The three teenagers ran into the mansion to help with taking down Vecna, but when they got into the attic, they were completely shocked with what they saw.

Meanwhile, Hopper and his group were searching the rest of the town, splitting up. Hopper, Joyce, and Murray searched main street, with Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve searched the suburbs.

Hopper's group looked around city hall for any signs of Vecna, but found nothing. Any Demo-Bats they saw would easily be shot and killed. That's when they found a small black goo stain on the ground. "What is this?" asked Hopper.

"Wanna find out?" a voice asked.

Hopper, Murray, and Joyce looked towards their right.

Meanwhile, Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve found themselves in the old trailer park that Eddie lived in before he was killed by the Demo-Bats. They saw some Demogorgons roaming the area and quickly took care of them. That's when they enter Eddie's old trailer to look around. When they opened the door, they saw something that knocked them off guard.

Back in Hopper's cabin, Luz was playing a mix of the Azura theme song, Running up that Hill, Never Ending Story, and Should I Stay or Should I Go on loop to keep Vecna from getting into her head. At some point, everyone fell asleep and when the tape stopped playing, Luz found herself in this red area with a bunch of Grandfather Clocks chiming.

"Oh no," she said to herself.

That's when she sees Vecna.

"It's been a while, Luz," Vecna said.

Luz could only stand there in fear as she saw Vecna standing in front of her. She tried to run, but she couldn't move. She looked around and saw all her friends floating in the air.

"What have you done with them?" asked Luz.

"Nothing yet," said Vecna. "But I will do something unless you do as I say, and turn yourself in."

Luz knew that her friends were in danger, and seeing no other choice, agreed.

"Just tell me how to get to this location in my physical body and I'll be there," said Luz.

"With pleasure," Vecna replied, before giving her a map to the location.

That's when Luz woke up and she had the map in her hand, and this woke the other up too.

Max was about to rewind the tape, but Luz held her hand out.

"Don't," said Luz. "He won't bring me into the nightmares anymore. I had a vision when I drifted off, and I saw Vecna. He has the others held hostage. He gave me this map to the location I was at, and he told me if I turned myself in, he'd let them go."

"This feels very suspicious, Mija," said Camila.

"He's obviously luring you," said Max. "He'll kill you the moment you show up and will have your friends watch them."

"Even if that were true," said Luz. "I'm not gonna risk letting the people I care about die to the hands of that monster."

"You do have a point," said Max.

"Fine, you can go," said Camila. "But we're coming with you."

"I know," said Luz. "And I know I can't make you change your mind, so let's go."

The three stand up and head for Vecna's location.

Meanwhile, at Vecna's location, in the Upside-Down, he was pacing, waiting for Luz to arrive.

Everyone was trying to break free from Vecna's telepathic grip on them, but not even El could do it.

"There's no way Luz could fall for this," said Dustin. "Right?"

"Actually, she would," said Amity. "It's in her nature to sacrifice her needs for others' needs. That's why I fell in love with her in the first place, but I'm positive that she'll have a plan to stop him."

"I can hear you," said Vecna. "And she has no plan. She no longer has the will to live. She even willingly let me try to kill her."

"WHAT?!" Amity, Willow, Gus, and Hunter shouted in unison.

"It's true," said Vecna. "I went through her memories when I made my connection with her, and I knew she was a perfect target because she feels guilty for helping Phillip meet the Collector and basically being the reason that your Realm is in danger."

The witches couldn't process anything that they heard from Vecna.

"There's no way," said Amity.

"She wouldn't," said Willow.

"But why?" said Gus.

"She couldn't have known," said Hunter. "She was tricked."

That's when Luz, Max, and Camila arrive.

"I'm here," said Luz. "Just be quick about it."

"Yeah, no," said Vecna. "I'm gonna make it slow and painful. Special for my friend."

"Friend?" Luz, Camila, and Max said in unison.

That's when a figure with a body made up of black goo, thousands of glowing eyes on his body, and antlers on his head appeared. "Hello, Luz," he said. "Long time, no see."

Luz could not believe what she was seeing. Phillip Wittebane was alive and helping Vecna. "But, how?" she said.

Flashback

When Luz and her friends prepared to depart for Hawkins, Belos, who was just a small walking stain at the time, was trying to survive off of feeding off of creatures he possesses, and that's when he sees Luz and her friends about to fly off, so he attaches himself to Hunter the moment he took off.

After Hunter landed, Belos detached himself and continued possessing and feeding off of creatures until he absorbed them enough to regain a physical body.

Belos made it to the woods and saw Vecna as he managed to heal himself from the injuries he sustained during his recent fight against the Hawkins kids. The two struck a deal, where they would help obliterate their enemies. The first thing they did was find Amity and Robin nearby and ambushed them after their fight against the Demo-Dog.

Belos then made his way to the Creel Mansion while Vecna sent his bats to guard it to knock El and her group off guard. While Belos lured and trapped Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Will, Suzie, and Erica in the attic, Vecna caught El, and they waited for Hunter, Willow, and Gus to arrive before capturing them.

Afterwards, Belos snuck up on and captured Hopper, Joyce, and Murray, while Vecna captured Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve.

Since then, they waited for Luz to arrive so they could make her suffer.

End of Flashback

"When I'm done with you," said Vecna. "I will move on and find new victims and create new gates, then I will destroy this corrupted world and remake it in my…"

Vecna could not finish his sentence as he felt something go through him. He looked down and saw a black spike go right through his right rib and out the other, and the source of the spike was Belos' arm.

"Just because a few lousy humans are helping witches," said Belos. "It doesn't mean the whole world deserves to die." Belos then sliced Vecna in half, killing him, and so, everyone he was holding in the air were released. El was able to use her psychic powers to ease everyone's descent.

"Now to finish what I started," said Belos, as he stretches his arm and prepares to kill Hunter.

Hunter summons Flapjack and blocks the attack before he, Amity, Willow, and Gus take flight and swarm Belos.

Gus casted illusions of everyone to knock Belos off guard.

Willow uses her plant magic to restrain Belos.

"I knew witch hunters were insane, but not this insane," said Joyce as she, Murray, and Hopper fire their guns at Belos' head, just for the bullets to not take effect.

"Hey, Belos," said Erica. "Why are you still trying to kill witches? Look how that messed you up. You're literally a turd." She turned towards the others expecting someone to call her off. "Just the…"

"I didn't say anything," Lucas interrupted. "If anything, keep going."

"With pleasure," Erica replied. "Hey, Belos, Witch Hunters are so passe."

"Women and Black People have rights," said Camila.

"Slavery in the States is no longer a thing," said Eleven.

"Homophobes are just measly cowards," said Robin. Gay people are widely accepted."

Belos could not handle the new information he was given. "SHUT UP!"

"What can we say?" said Erica.

"They're all just the facts," Erica, Camila, Eleven, and Robin defend in unison.

"These are all lies," Belos shouted as he was about to attack.

That's when Eleven uses her psychic powers to hold Belos back. She pulls Belos toward her before flicking him on the nose and sending him miles back.

That's when the environment started shaking.

"Shit," said Dustin. "I should've known."

"Oye," said Camila. "Que te dije del lenguaje?"

"And also, what's even happening?" asked Luz.

"With Vecna gone, his little merge thing is being undone," Dustin replied. "We gotta go."

Everyone runs and makes it back into the Human World from the Upside-Down and they look around Hawkins seeing everything back to normal, well, as normal as it can be, as there still are a bunch of Demo-Creatures out in the open, though they're tame now.

Everyone found themselves back in Hopper's cabin, just having conversations.

Amity approaches Luz. "We need to talk."

"About what?" asked Luz.

"Vecna said something about you helping Phillip meet the Collector," replied Amity. "I want to believe he lied, but something tells me it's true. You don't have to talk about it now if you don't want to but I just wanted to put that out there."

Luz knew she couldn't keep it secret forever, so she spoke up. "It's true. There was this time pool, and I met him when he was just Phillip. I taught him the light spell and he tricked me into helping him find the place where the Collector was being kept, and it was because of that, everything happened. The Coven System, the Day of Unity, the Collector's takeover, all of it was my fault and sometimes I feel like it's better off for you if I never existed."

Amity hugs Luz. "Don't ever say that again. I don't care if you helped him. You said it yourself, he tricked you. You never meant to do it, and I would never be better off without you. You mean everything to me."

Luz and Amity share another tender kiss.

1 Hour Later…

Luz, Amity, Willow, Gus, Hunter, and Camila were preparing for the flight back to Gravesfield.

Their new friends were there waving goodbye.

"Hope to see you again, soon," said Mike.

"We'd help you, but we need to clean up everything here," said Lucas.

"Good luck getting back to the Isles," said Dustin.

"And getting back from the Isles," said Will.

The Nocedas and witches waved goodbye before flying off for Gravesfield.