#nancy ending up with steve would be her version of conforming And it would be like wtf bc their goals don't align | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

onelilhippie · 2 years

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OUTCAST: chapter ten

story masterlist

i do not own this gif

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EVERYONE'S BRIGHT idea was to use nancy's sister's lite-brite for communication. so, we ended up huddled over the upside down version of nancy's bed, staring in anticipation for dustin's next move. everyone was getting impatient, especially eddie, who was rocking back and forth, lips pursed. i tried calming him down, smoothing my hand over his back, but he wanted out of here.

dustin's voice suddenly floated through the air, but we didn't catch his full sentence, "-seeing this?"

the air in front of us had lit up, causing the familiar orange hue to pulse. nancy and i ran our hands through it in awe, and we could faintly hear my brother's cackling laugh on the other side. i smiled at the sound, i missed his dumb little face.

i waved my hand through the mist beside nancy's, watching it run through the spaces between our fingers like fine sand. dustin's voice floated through again, louder this time.

"we're not moving it, but we're gonna unplug it! stand by." he ordered. in a blink, the orange disappeared, and i was kind of sad the feeling had left.

"okay, try it now!" dustin spoke up a second later.

eddie turned to me and bumped my shoulder with his, but i turned to nancy, who seemed to want to be in charge. i nodded to her and she set her eyes on the orange space in front of us, looking a little nervous.

"uh..." she said slowly, touching in front of her. the air glowed, and she drug her finger through the mist that reappeared, drawing the word 'hi' with her fingers. i gasped, completely amazed with the sight in front of me. i turned to eddie, who had the same astounded look on his face.

"that worked!" dustin called, and we all broke into excited smiles. i clapped my hands together and eddie threw an arm over my shoulder, squeezing me in a side hug.

"yes! hi!" eddie exclaimed happily, pulling me into him.

nancy contemplated what to write again, as we had very limited space here. she then began to spell, i watched as she drew the letters: 's', 't', 'u', then 'c' and 'k'. eddie leaned forward, hopeful, humming in conformation.

"you can't get back through watergate?" dustin yelled back. i fucking laughed. of course my brother would make a joke out of this, calling it watergate.

"what the hell is watergate?" steve asked, clueless as ever.

"steve... water. gate." i spelled out for him, shaking my head. robin was nicer in her explaining, talking to him as if he were a child.

"cause it's in water, and it's a gate."

"oh."

"that's cute." eddie smiled, glancing at me as i giggled. nancy turned back to the board, talking to herself as she spelled out our next answer, 'g... u... a...r...d... e...d.'.

"watergate's guarded!" dustin said again, figuring us out. i jumped in excitement, hoping we'd get a plan together soon. everything was going so smooth, maybe we'd get out of here unscathed.

"yes dustin!" i yelled out.

"we think we have a theory that can help with that!" dustin replied. everyone sighed in immediate relief.

"genius child." robin commented. i definitely agreed. without my brother, we'd have been dead a long time ago. no one else could figure things out like dustin could.

"we think watergate isn't the only gate, we think there's a gate at every murder site!" dustin's voice floated in and out. it was hard to hear more than a few words at a time without him cutting out. i turned to the others.

"does anyone understand what he's talking about?" nancy asked us. we all shook our heads no, not at all. i reached out and drew a question mark, hoping he'd understand that we didn't get it. dustin started yelling.

"seriously? how many times do i have to be right on the money before you just trust me!" my brother screeched, ever so loudly. i sighed at the same time steve did, shaking my head.

"jesus christ. this kid's gotta get his ego in check."

"you're telling me. try living with him." i laughed, shaking my head once again. eddie leaned into the conversation.

"it's his tone, right?"

"i know!" steve agreed. i nodded along with them. it was definitely his tone. always.

"okay. so... how far is your trailer?" nancy asked eddie.

"seven miles." he answered.

"nancy?" robin asked, "uh... i know your house here is like, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven't you always had bikes?"

so, we ended up pulling together some bikes from nancy's garage. they only had four, but i had no problem jumping on the back of eddie's bike, wrapping my arms around his middle and snuggling in. the leather was cool on my skin, and he leaned into me for a moment.

"we'll be okay." he commented, looking over his shoulder at me. i looked up at eddie and nodded, smiling at him. he turned halfway towards me to press a soft kiss to my lips, then turned back around. i fastened myself against him again, my cheek pressed against his back. as soon as everyone was ready, we sped off down the road, headed to eddie's trailer.

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after a long ride of my ass being sore and the sky grumbling creepily, we made it to eddie's trailer park. the bike leaned sideways as we turned onto the driveway for his home.

"right here." he pointed, stopping finally. i groaned as i got off, my back cracking from being super uncomfortable. eddie stood, hands behind his head, stretching, while robin once again rambled.

"that's gotta be a guinness world record or something. most miles traveled interdimensionally." she shook her head, following eddie and i up to his trailer.

"just inhaled a bunch of that crap," steve coughed, spit into the grass, "it's stuck in my throat."

"how do you think im doing?" i asked them both, audibly cracking my neck. steve groaned in disgust and eddie chuckled at me. the other two shook their heads and opened the door, stepping inside.

as soon as we were in, we saw a gate similar to the one in the lake. it was glowing red, pulsing like it was alive. i scrunched up my face, grossed out, squinting at the bright red light it emanated.

"goddamn." steve said, clicking his flashlight off.

"that's nasty." i whispered, staring.

"this is where chrissy died." my attention turned to eddie, "like, right where she died."

the gate was making these awful squelching noises. i was pretry fucking sure it was alive or something like that. it was moving. and it was grossing me out.

"i think there's something in there." robin commented as it started to somehow cave in. i leaned back into eddie, who held on protectively, but also cocked his head in curiosity.

"what the hell is that?" steve whispered. we were all staring intently now, not taking our eyes off the gate. then it broke open, startling us all. nancy and i yelped, and i fell back into eddie, almost knocking us both to the floor.

for a moment, we all looked at each other. we didn't know what could possibly be punching through the gate. steve, seemingly brave, took baby steps up to the opening. we shortly followed behind him, peering up into the gap between the two worlds.

"no way..." steve breathed.

i looked up to see my brother, lucas, max and erica, who had broken through the gate with the end of a broom. but... they were upside down, like they were standing on the ceiling. my brother started cackling his signature laugh.

"hi there! hey marnie!" he waved, smiling. we all said our hellos back. everyone started laughing. i smiled wide, just really fucking happy to see my brother again. my heart swelled at the sight of him and his friends across (?) from us.

"am i high?" i asked. i blinked a couple times, they were still upside down.

"holy shit, this is trippy." robin drawled as my brother laughed again.

"bada-bada-boom!" dustin shouted, looking up (down?) at us.

after a few moments of post-trip giggling, we had to devise a way to get out. dustin and his friends seemed to be quick with it, taking sheets from eddie's real place and tying them together, dragging the mattress from his room and placing it directly where we'd fall. i squinted, noticing multiple stains on his bedsheets, and turned to look at him.

"those stains are uh...i don't know what those stains are." eddie admitted, looking away from us. robin hummed in response, probably trying not to think about it. i was just hoping it was beer or something. i pushed those thoughts out of my brain, and watched as my brother threw the chain of sheets through the gate, defying every physics law known to man, while commenting on the same fact.

"not quite sure how these physics are gonna work. but here goes nothin... there we go! and if my theory is correct..."

he let it go, and it stayed still, without dropping back down (up??) and through the gate. i shook my head, choosing not to question these things. as long as we could get out.

"alright pull on it! see if it holds!" he called through. robin shrugged, grabbing and pulling. it wouldn't budge. my jaw dropped.

"this is the craziest shit i've ever seen in my life. and i've seen some crazy shit." erica said, gazing up (down??? jesus) at us.

"guess i'm the guinea pig." robin said, taking hold of the sheets and jumping up to climb. my mind was totally broken at how this worked, how the sheets weren't falling back through. robin climbled up quickly, and as soon as she passed through the gate, she fell onto the matress on the other side. she sat up, panting a bit.

"thank god. that was fun."

the four of us left looked around at each other, and their eyes landed on me. i shook my head, pushing eddie forward, but he resisted. i shook my head, but he placed his hands on the bare skin of my back, pushing me forward.

"you first, princess."

i blushed at the name and hoisted myself onto the sheets. now i had no upper body strength, so i struggled, but i got up high enough. i couldn't quite get through, so eddie climbed up behind me, pushing me through the gate by the ass. before i had time to react, i flipped upside down, landing on my back on the mattress.

"oh shit." i sighed, head spinning for a moment. i got up, watching eddie climb through and fall on the mattress just as i had. he shot upwards, eyes wide.

"that was fun. shit." i grabbed his bicep, tugging him up off the mattress before steve or nancy crushed him. but, no one came straight after him. instead my vision blurred, my head started pounding. i held onto my head, dropping to my knees and squeezing my eyes shut.

the pain dulled for a moment or two and i stood up, opening my eyes to a dark grey room, those slithering vines covering the trailer around me. hadn't i just fell through the gate to real-hawkins? where was everyone? i spun around, everything was grey and murky, my vision was wavering. once the trailer stopped see-sawing, my eyes landed on a deformed body, limbs at odd angles and eyes missing. it was chrissy, in her cheer uniform, all mangled like eddie had described her back in the boathouse.

i gasped, staggering backwards, my eyes welling with tears.

"do you see this, marnie? this is what happened to your friend. the one you abandoned. have you forgotten her already? need i remind you?" a deep voice rumbled inside my head, accompanied by a painful slide of memores flashing through my mind. the screaming fight with chrissy, how she begged for me to come back. the night she told me we couldn't be friends anymore, only a week after i left eddie. i had yelled and shouted at her, i said the worst things imaginable. i thought, in those moments, that i had a right to be that angry at her. but what if i was hurting her more than she hurt me?

suddenly, chrissy was in front of me, perfectly normal and alive, except her eyes were glowing red. we were in her yard, where we stood that night. where she stood, yelling at me to come back, saying she didn't mean it. that she never wanted this to happen. echoes of her yelling filled my ears, then the words she used about me behind my back, calling me a slut, a bitch, outcasting me just days after we fought, days after she begged for my forgiveness.

"i can't be friends with you anymore, marnie. i'm sorry." chrissy said, eyes downcast. my eyebrows pulled together as i stepped forward, wondering if i heard her right.

"what? did... did jason tell you to do this?"

"jason... he told me he's seen how you look at me. he thinks you're disgusting. and frankly, i do too. i'm not gay, marnie. i can't even look at you right now. i don't... i don't want you. not like that. you're disgusting." chrissy spat, venom clear in her voice. she was the only person i had ever told that i was bisexual. my heart basically broke in two at her words, pain thrumming through my chest.

"w-what? you know i don't look at you like that, you're my best friend." i told her. and it was the truth. i never had feelings for my best friend. but jason was jealous that she paid more attention to me, and chrissy must have outed me to him. he wanted me out of her life, and used anything he could to get what he wanted. jason wanted everyone out of her life except for him.

"you're disgusting, marnie. just leave." chrissy whispered, still not looking at me.

"fuck you, chrissy. i hope you get what you deserve. you're just like your family." i sneered, looking straight at her. i didn't mean it, and i regretted it the moment i said it, but i felt the need to hurt her like she hurt me. chrissy's eyes shot up at me, disbelief rushing over her features. her eyes were now the glassy ones.

i stormed off, fighting the tears that threatened to escape, listening to her call after me.

"marnie come back! i didn't mean it! marnie! marnie! please, i can't do this without you! you're my best friend! marnie!" but i didn't look back. chrissy's voice faded as i walked farther away. if she thought i was disgusting, then i'd stay as far away from her as possible.

i shook my head, trying to push the memory away. i knew that i had to do with her struggling. i knew that i was part of the reason that she decided she needed to turn to drugs. and i constantly reminded myself that.

vecna just wanted to dig at my weakness.

chrissy disappeared from in front of me, and the night sky morphed to red. a clock near me ticked, and the ground beneath me was suddenly slithering vines. i was back in the upside down, surrounded by floating pieces of a half crumbled house. the clock chimed four times.

"i see you and your friends have been looking for me, marnie. you were so close. so close to the truth. how was your first experience here, marnie? i hope my friends had good bedside manner. i've been meaning to pay you a visit, but i've been busy. so very busy." the voice continued as i carefully made my way through this nightmare.

i looked around, seeing these.... what i could only describe as stalks of those twisted vines. one held the body of fred, a kid involved in nancy's investigation. another held patrick, the kid who died at the lake. and lastly, chrissy, all mangled and stuck between the vines.

the sky rumbled, and i jumped once again. i looked around, unsure of what i should do next, unsure of how to get out of this mind game.

"don't worry, marnie. while i'm taking care of your friend nancy, i'd love to show you what's in store for you." the voice spoke again.

a shooting pain ran through my head, like a sudden migraine, and i groaned. my eyes squeezed closed again, and when i opened them, i was on my knees, eddie's head in my lap, blood trickling out of his mouth. he was pale, eyes shiny with tears. my vision was fuzzy, unclear. all i could see was his face, hear the rattle of his shallow breath in his chest. i began to panic, chest heaving but then eddie's mouth moved, as if he was speaking to me. my ears began to ring but eddie's voice played clearly in my head.

"i didn't run this time, right marn?"

my face was soaked in tears, and i was shaking as i held eddie's cold body in my hands.

"eddie?" i shook him, "eddie, please! please don't go eds, i need you!"

sobs racked my chest as i shook him, blood falling from his mouth. i could see my tears falling into his skin, the collar of his jacket, but his eyes were empty. he wasn't answering me, he wasn't waking up.

"this is what will happen if you keep digging." the rumbling voice echoed inside my mind. i buried my face in my hands and wiped the tears off my face with the swell of my palms.

when i removed my hands from my face, shaking, i was once again in that red nightmare, back pressed against one of the thick stalks of vines. i was still shaking from crying, chest heaving from the sobs. there was a creature in front of me, the form of a man but covered in scaly, slithering skin, vines connecting his shoulder and head, running along his neck. he was close enough to me that i could feel his breath as he spoke, his giant clawed hand raised over my head as if he was about to strike. i could feel my eyes threatening to roll to the back of my head agaist my will. i knew he could kill me at any moment.

"playing the hero doesn't always save the world." vecna spoke, letting go of his hold on me.

i landed on my knees, eyes opening as i heard a cacophony of shouts in my name.

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