Chapter Twelve

On and On

chapter warning: mentions of suicide, not described, just mentioned briefly.

"Dream?" Piper's dark brows pulled together tightly as she looked at Billy, "What dream?"

Billy sighed heavily, rubbing his hand along his jaw, before speaking, "I was running around, panicked, trying to find you today. I woke up from a nightmare and you weren't there, and something was telling me to find you. That something bad was going to happen, or something."

"What was the dream?" Piper asked gently, everyone looking between the couple, before settling on Billy. Anyone looking at him could see the deep worry that was set across his face and heavy in his blue eyes.

"It was like I was back in the hospital room after everything that happened at Star Court Mall. Every detail of the hospital room was perfect, I nearly thought I wasn't dreaming. It was a memory...and then shifted and changed. I was in the bathroom, and when I looked up into the mirror, my reflection wasn't looking back at me. It was this monster." Billy's face twisted with disgust, "It was something out of a horror movie. I didn't recognize him at first, till he spoke...it was the same monster that flayed me."

"The Mindflayer?" Dustin asked

"I-I don't know," Billy shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "He didn't look like the Mindflayer. Instead this...thing was tall and seemed to be covered in vine and burns. His skin was something I'd never seen before. Almost looked like the tendrils on him were moving."

Piper's spine straighten and her hazel eyes widened, Billy quickly noticed the shift and change in her body language. "Baby...w-what's wrong?"

"Did you get a look at his arm?" Piper asked, Billy, who shook his head, "Were his eyes...were one of them cloudy? Like he was blind or something?"

"Yeah, how...how did you know that."

Piper let out a small noise before shaking her head quickly. "Th-that was Vecna,"

Piper suddenly felt like she was going to puke with the sudden panic and nauseous that came over her.

"Shit," Dustin cursed,

"So what? Now both of them are cursed?" Robin asked out loud the question on everyone's minds.

"Have you seen hallucinations, Hargrove?" Steve asked, his voice coming out in a slight rush.

"No, no!" Billy shook his head, "That was the first thing. W-Well...expect I've had this feeling since we came back into town. I was fine till we crossed over the border into town. It's that feeling of someone watching me but...different, colder. It's right at the back of my neck."

"Will talked about that, it's like a connection to the Upside Down. We all thought it was too the Mindflayer. But what if it's been to Vecna this entire time?" Dustin questioned

"Jesus fucking Christ," Steve groaned as his face fell into his hands.

Max stood on the edge of the group watching as Piper paced along the front of the room, muttering to herself with her fear nearly causing her body to vibrate.

"We only have a few days," Max spoke, everyone's attention turning to her, "Till the curse comes for Piper. We have to figure out a way to stop it."

"Vecna, or whoever, gave a warning that he was coming for Piper, in the dream, I think Max is right," Billy spoke, quickly moving to Piper and pulling her into his chest.

From outside the room and down the hall, suddenly the sound of one of the heavy outside doors slamming shut vibrated through the empty school. Everyone's head snapped toward the direction of the closed door as footsteps soon echoed through. Steve was the first to step toward the door.

"Stay here," Steve ordered with a hardness to his voice, as he moved to step out of the room.

It wasn't missed that the weapon of choice Steve grabbed before stepping out of the office was one of Ms. Kelly's floor lamps. Steve moved slowly and steadily through the hallway with the lamp yielded in his hands, ready to swing on whatever threat came his way. Of course, the group didn't listen, and instead, followed Steve a few feet behind through the hallway. The echo of rapid footsteps could be heard the more they moved back toward the front of the school. Piper reached up and tightly gripped Billy's bicep as they all crept closer and closer. Behind Steve, Billy used his body as a shield for the others, his body tensing up at the sounds that came closer to the corner. Dustin shined his flashlight forward as a figure turned the corner and suddenly came into view.

Steve rose the large lamp in his hands up, ready to attach, before a familiar voice called out to them all.

"It's me! It's me!" Lucas shouted, his hands raised out in front of him.

"Lucas?" Nancy yelled over the screams of everyone jumping back in fear.

His voice was muffled out slightly by the screams of everyone else behind him, but Steve slowly lowered the lamp when he recognized who was in front of him. His fear was now replaced with a little anger.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Sinclair!?" Steve shouted, "I could've taken you out with this thing?"

Steve's voice rose as he shook the lamp violently in his hands, before moving to set it down ungracefully to the ground beneath him. He felt like his heart was in his throat causing his chest to tighten. Piper let out a heavy sigh of relief the moment it dawned on her that none of them were in immediate danger. She hadn't realized that along with grabbing Billy, Piper had pulled Max tightly against her side. She loosened her grip on the redhead, but the younger girl didn't immediately move from Piper's grasp.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." Lucas panted as he struggled to breathe and speak the same time. His face twisted with anguish as sweat dripped down along his forehead and temples. "I-I'm sorry...h-had to bike...six miles...oh, shit."

"What the hell man?" Dustin questioned, stepping closer to his friend.

"We...h-have a code red." Lucas panted, straightening up to face Dustin better.

"Yeah, no shit man, where the fuck have you been?"

"Dustin, you don't get it, you're in danger," Lucas started to frantically speak, "I have been with Jason, Patrick, and Andy and they have gone totally off the rails. They are trying to capture Eddie and they think that you know where he is."

"Yeah, ok, that totally sucks...but we have bigger things to deal with right now," Dustin spoke, before his, and everyone else's gaze, moved to settle on Piper.

"We should get out of here, head back to the Wheeler's where it'll be safer." Steve spoke up "We'll fill Lucas in on the way, but we need some rest."

"Good idea," Nancy agreed. "Billy, Piper...you guys coming too?"

"Think it would be wiser we all stayed together," Billy spoke up.


"Mom? Dad?" Piper called out into her small family home as she walked through the front door.

She dropped her bag down beside the small table that was on the left side of the front door. From the back of the house, she was able to hear the familiar sounds of a song coming from her mother's radio. Piper already felt the smile tugging on the curve of her lips as she walked down the wallpapered hallway toward the kitchen. The moment the swinging door was pushed, the louder the music became, and Piper was welcomed to a sight.

Piper always admired the love that her parents had for one another, not being afraid to show their love and affection around others. Even though Piper was grossed out at times, secretly, it brought her immense happiness to see her parents happy. Piper stood in the doorway and watched as her parents danced together in the open space between the small breakfast table and kitchen counter. On and On by Curtis Harding played from the speakers with the sweet smell of whatever was in the oven wafted through the air. Piper's mother's face was split wide with a genuine smile as her father sang word for word to the song.

It wasn't till they spun together that they noticed their teenage daughter standing in the doorway. Kathy let out a small scream of surprise when she noticed Piper, but the smile from before was still wide on her face.

"You two seem to be having fun," Piper spoke, a slightly teasing tone to her voice.

"We didn't hear you come in, "John Canon spoke with a smile, stepping away from his wife toward his daughter. "Have a good day at school?"

Behind the two of them, Kathy turned down the radio slightly causing the music to become background music. The rest of Curtis Harding's new cassette playing as Kathy moved to check on the cookies in the oven.

"It was ok. Got a B- on that paper that you helped me with." Piper spoke with a prideful smile.

"I didn't help you much a tall," John spoke, "I'm proud of you, honey, good job."

"I am making cookies to take to the book club tonight. You two want the extras?" Kathy spoke up.

Piper eagerly walked around her father to head toward the counter where her mother was plating the cookies she'd pulled out. John stood there and watched the two girls he loved the most, before stepping up beside Piper. For once Piper was able to get rest without a nightmare plaguing her mind. She sleeps instead with one of the last memories she had before her parents were taken from her in an accident.


Most of the group wasn't able to sleep after Lucas was filled in on everything that had happened since Chrissy Cunningham's death. Lucas even did the same and told them what had been going on since he was with Jason and his crew the last two days. It sounds like they had not only Vecna to worry about, but now Jason as well. The love-sick and grief-stricken basketball player going on a witch hunt for Eddie. All eight of them hunkered down in the Wheeler's basement for the night as theories, plans and ideas were shared amongst them all. But it wasn't long till the fatigue had gotten to Piper and she curled up in one of the lazy boys in the basement, quickly falling into a restless sleep. The entire time Billy couldn't seem to keep his eyes off her as she slept.

"She's gonna be ok, man," Steve spoke as she leaned over and whispered softly, the other four kids talking amongst themselves as Robin and Nancy slipped away for a moment. "We're gonna figure this out."

Billy sighed heavily, his shoulder tense as he shook his head, "I'm not so sure about that."

Steve looked toward him confused, "What do you mean? We're gonna get this Vecna creep."

"Even if we do, I'm not sure Piper is going to come out the same. Fuck, Piper hasn't been the same since last summer." Billy spoke "I'm sure she's been playing to the good action with you guys since you only speak via phone calls and letters. But she hasn't been doing good, at all."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked

"The first few months we moved to California, it seemed that the change was good for her, good for us. She's just lost her Uncle, and I went through everything with being Flayed – so we needed a change. I thought we were going to take a step forward or something...but instead, Hawkins and everything else caught up to us quickly. We ran from our problems, instead of fixing them," Billy spoke, a heaviness clear in his blue eyes. It was at that moment that Steve noticed the dark circles under Billy's eyes and the worn-down look that was across his features. "There were moments that I was afraid to leave her alone, thinking I was going to come home to..."

It hung in the air between the two men, but Steve knew what Billy was alluding to. That Piper would hurt herself, beyond the point of being saved. His heart broke for his friends knowing the pain they were going through on some level. The two of them sat in silence as Billy stared toward the girl that owned his heart fully, feeling like she was once again slipping away from him without a way to save her. Piper's grief and pain were something he shouldered alone and were fully willing to, do whatever it took to help her. Ignoring his own pain to make sure that she didn't slip away from him. But now it seemed the universe was working harder against him.

"I know I was an asshole up until the last year, and I never thought I deserved anything in my life that was good. My dad made sure of that. But Piper...fuck...she opened my eyes, man. Deep down I know I'm not good enough for her, but fuck, I worked hard to make sure I could come close. I thought we were finally gonna get there and be happy together. Maybe get married, have a kid or two...but..." Billy cleared his throat, pausing for a moment, before speaking again, "Coming to this shit town gave me the best fucking thing that's ever happened to me, and it seems coming back is only going to take her away from me."

"We're not gonna let him take her," Steve spoke, placing a hard clasp on Billy's shoulder, "Piper is part of this family, and we don't give up easily on our family. We're close to a solution, I know it."

Billy nodded his head and bowed his head as he felt the familiar burn of tears in his eyes. Steve stood from his place beside Billy and walked over to the other side of the basement where Dustin, Lucas, and Max sat on the couch. The papers that Nancy and Robin had found were scattered on the coffee table that sat in front of them. Billy could hear them talking once again about Venca, Victor Creel, and the deaths that happened in the Creel house in the fifties. But Billy couldn't bring himself to focus on that.

From above the sound of the basement door opening and shutting cut the conversation between the others quickly as Nancy and Robin came down the stairs. Piper was unmoved from her spot in the lazy boy, something Billy was thankful for before he stood to join the others.

"We have a plan," Nancy spoke excitedly, two burgundy folders tightly in her grasp.

The two of them rushed toward the part of the basement where Steve sat with the three others. She handed him one of the folders before passing the other off to Dustin.

"Thanks to one of my friends at the newspaper, we are now rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame. I am Ruth." Nancy spoke

"And I am Rose." Robin perked up slightly with a smile.

"Nice GPAs" Dustin nodded his head approvingly before passing the folder down to Lucas.

"We called down to Penhurst Asylum and told them we'd like to talk to Creel. Came up with a story on how we're doing a thesis on schizophrenics. Now, they said now at first, but, we set up an appointment with the director." Nancy explained.

"So with these portfolios, we are going to work our charm in order to get a meeting with Creel and ask the questions we need on how to defeat Vecna." Robin finished

"That's all cool," Steve spoke, closing the folder in his hands, "But where is my portfolio?"

Robin and Nancy shot a look at one another, a look that Steve was able to recognize quickly.

"Oh no," He spoke in protest, "You've gotta be fucking kidding me. I'm babysitting again?"


Max was the first to notice Piper's movements as the older girl started to wake from her small nap. Nancy and Robin had left for Penhurst Asylum with their plan to sneak in a meeting with Victor Creel. Dustin and Lucas had moved upstairs with Billy and Steve to give Piper some quiet as she rested, Max, taking watch over her.

"Hey, you sleep ok?" Max asked, the sound of her voice causing Piper to jump slightly in shock, before calming down the moment she saw Max. "Sorry...didn't mean to scare you."

"It's ok." Piper chuckled dryly "Just...wasn't expecting you. I-I slept ok, actually. Had a nice dream for once."

"Really?" Max stood to move closer to Piper, "W-What about?"

Piper smiled slightly to herself, before looking up at Max. "It was about my parents, actually. It was a couple of months before they died. I came home from school to find them dancing in the kitchen." Piper laughed slightly, bringing a little life to her face, "My parents were the cheesy couple that got together in college and married. At times they were gross, but at others, I really admired them. They didn't hide away the fact they loved each other while friends around them were getting divorced left and right. They were dancing to this song...called On and On by Curtis Harding. It's one of my favorites cause every time I hear it...I think of them,"

Max smiled as she listened to Piper speaks, seeing the admiration she talked about clearly in her eyes and on her face.

"Never heard you speak about your parents much before," Max commented

Piper shrugged slightly, "Guess it was too painful to talk about. One moment, my mom was yelling at me to get out of bed, and the next, cops were knocking on the door telling me they died. It was too quick. I didn't even get to say goodbye."

Max reached over and caressed her hand gently, "I'm sorry."

"Thanks, kid." Piper squeezed her hand gently, before pulling it away. The smile faded from her face quickly and turned back to a tired frown. "Where is everyone?"

"Robin and Nancy left for Penhurst, they think they can talk to the director and get a meeting with Victor Creel. Ask some questions about how he survived Vecna. You missed it, but his family was attacked by a 'demon' in the fifties...sounds very similar to how Chrissy and Fred died."

Piper's brows rose slightly, "Demon...wow...and the boys?"

"Billy's anxiety was making us all nervous, so he went out for a smoke, while I think the others are watching TV in the living room." Max shrugged her shoulders "I didn't want you to be alone if you woke up."

"Thank you," Piper spoke with admiration, but quickly her eyes scanned over Max's face and could see the nervousness and hesitation. "Max...what is it?"

Max looked at her with slightly wide eyes for a moment, before sighing and looking down slightly, "I-I...I'm just scared...I'm not too ashamed to admit it, but I'm terrified, Piper."

"Terrified? Of Vecna?" Piper questioned

"Of Vecna. Of everyone in this down seemingly dying, and we don't know how to stop him this time. I mean...we can't even see him." Max began to talk quickly, "How are we supposed to stop him from getting you, Piper?"

"I-I don't know. I don't know Max, I-I wish that I could give you an answer," Piper frowned "But I can promise you that I'll fight ok? The last thing I wanna do is leave you guys, you're the little bit of family that I have left."

Max nodded her head before quickly moving to wrap her arms around Piper's middle and holding her tightly, the two of them falling against the other in the worn-down chair. But as Piper sat there in Max's arms, she couldn't ignore the daunting sound of a grandfather clock loudly chiming in the distance.