Raven

One, Two, Three. Three gunshots echoed through the house as you scrambled across the living room trying to take shelter behind the sofa. You didn’t need confirmation, you knew that something was wrong, terribly wrong in Hawkins. First Eleven is taken away by Dr. Owens and now armed men are breaking into the house, determined to kill you and your friends. Just when all hope was lost you saw a familiar yellow van drive by. Jonathan runs and stops the car and all of you get inside, huffing and panting, breathless and scared because of what you just went through. You had been no stranger to death having experienced what it was like standing up to Demogorgons and the mind flayer.   

After the initial shock had subsided you now realised that your friends in Hawkins were in danger. The person you love the most is in danger. You had to get back to Eddie. Because if there was something going on in Hawkins this time there was no Eleven to save them. They would need every help they could get to take down whatever was coming after them. 

“We need to get back to Hawkins, as soon as we can,” you say out loud and the rest of the crew nods in unison following with a bunch of ‘yeahs’ and “you’re right”. “But first we need to get Eleven back. Without her we have no chances of defeating whatever is in Hawkins again,” says Mike, and you can’t help but agree with him because you did need her, and going to Hawkins without her would be a terrible mistake. With no means to contact your friends at Hawkins, you were now getting impatient and worried.

“Argyle, stop the car,” you shout from the back seat. You knew it was now or never. That if you went along with Mike and the others you would probably never be able to meet Eddie again. If you leave now you might just make it in time to get him somewhere safe. But first, you needed to convince everybody to let you go out alone, which they probably wouldn’t, considering the danger it might put you in because whoever it was that sent those men into the house would do it again, and probably, next time you wouldn’t be as lucky as the first. 

The tires screech and the car halts in the middle of the deserted road. “I have to go back to Hawkins. I need to. Because if something is out there trying to hurt everybody again I can’t just stay here. I need to go back.” You look at them, waiting for a response, hoping that they would agree and let you go. “What? No, we can’t let you go out there alone. From what we know there might be someone still following us.” Once again, Mike is right but right now your mind doesn’t let logic override what your heart wants. You could go alone, you could hitch a ride, or just take a cab once you see one with whatever money you have left in your pockets, hell you could even just run as fast as you can if it meant bridging the gap even by a little bit between you and Eddie and getting closer to Hawkins. But you were not going to go someplace you weren’t even sure existed and pass on the opportunity to make it to Hawkins in time. 

“You let me go. Now. I don’t care if I get shot or if get taken away by some stupid people in suits. I’ll go back to Hawkins and I’ll get back to Eddie no matter what it takes.” 

Tears roll off your cheeks as you take a deep breath. “You d-don’t have to come with me. I’ll go back alone. You guys can bring back Eleven but please, p-please just let me go.” You say as you sob through your words, almost choking as you feel the panic and anxiety hit you. 

“Hey, Hey, okay it’s alright take some deep breaths. It’s going to be fine y/n. You need to breathe alright,” Will says calmly, as he tries to reassure you in the midst of your breakdown. “A few miles from here, the road is not as deserted as it is here. From there on you can take a lift, hitch a ride or probably even catch a bus if you’re lucky you know. We could drop you there and from there you could travel to Hawkins” says Argyle, almost as if he were sober but the look on his face said otherwise. Plus, no sober person right now would say that as calmly as he did, especially after witnessing a shootout and several injured and dead officers. You look into the rear view mirror and simply nod, your mind too cluttered to let you say anything.

Throughout the ride, everyone stays silent. Too afraid to say anything wrong, too afraid that if they said something out loud something might just go wrong. They were right to be afraid though. Ever since they came to know about the existence of the upside-down all there was, was bloodshed, violence, and loss. The town kept losing its people and fear kept rising. 

In the distance, you could see cars, plural, yes, after having seen almost none for a while. The wind was heavier now as if a storm were approaching. And it was. A storm is approaching Hawkins and you had no idea how to stop it. 

You hop out of the van as soon as it stops. “Take care of yourself, yeah? And if you see anybody suspicious, make a run for it.” Jonathan says before closing the door to the van. “You guys take care of yourself too. And Mike, don’t worry you’ll find Eleven I’m sure.” You smile as you wave them goodbye. You were hopeful. Hopeful that you would make your way back to Eddie but you were also scared as you went on your separate ways, afraid of probably never being able to meet your friends again in case things go downhill. 

Hitching a ride was not as easy as it sounded in your head. Seven cars passed you by before a truck agreed to take you to Hawkins as it was heading on the same way. On the way, your mind was racing with thoughts of what you could possibly encounter there. Was it the Russians again, trying to reopen the portal after what happened in Starcourt, probably not. Given the fact that Eleven went to get her powers back, it had to be something much more than that. Something more sinister. 

Coming back to Hawkins, you thought you would be relieved, at least partially, now that you could finally find people who could explain whatever the hell was going on. You were expecting the usual half-empty, quiet streets, with lights on in a few houses near the streets but the houses were all dark and empty. Hawkins felt…. Deserted. 

Walking through the town you grew up in never felt this uneasy. You knew every road, every corner, and every street yet the place felt unfamiliar today. Like the very air of Hawkins changed. The sounds of faint sirens were closing in and thinking it would be best for you to hide. You run behind the bushes to wait for the car to pass you by. Merely seconds after the car left another one approached your direction, this time, faster, and judging by the sound of people shouting it would be fair to say that a whole group of people were in that car. 

It’s been five minutes since you’ve entered the town and it doesn’t take more than that for things to take a bad turn. Posters in white with black letters printed on them were all around the town. “Wanted for murder.” The next few words shake you to the core as a shiver runs down your spine. “Eddie Munson.” You want to think that it’s not real, that this is not really happening right now but you see it. You see the poster, you touch it, and it feels real. And that’s when you realise that the people were out there patrolling in cars, looking out for Eddie, to find him and possibly even kill him. You had no time to lose. You had to find him before someone else did. 

Running never felt easier than this. Your legs felt lighter than usual. The adrenaline pumping through your body doesn’t let you realise that your heart is beating fast, a little too fast from all the running and the fear. Reaching Eddie’s trailer wasn’t easy. With the wanted posters out everywhere, almost everyone was out with torches and sticks and bats and even guns like they were in some kind of witch hunt. 

You don’t even think that the door to his trailer would be locked; you simply just push on the door and it swings open. While it was alarming that it had been left open like that for God knows how long it wasn’t any more alarming than the huge gaping hole on the roof of the trailer. And it wasn’t just any hole. It was a gate. A gate to the upside-down. And not only was there a gate but a rope made out of bedsheets and an entire mattress spread out under the gate which could only mean one thing. Your friends and possibly Eddie were in the upside-down. 

Luckily enough, Eddie kept a metal bat that he got from his uncle when he was younger. You still remember him showing it to you when you first visited him at his home and saying that he probably wouldn’t need it anymore now that he’s into playing dnd. But boy you were glad that he still kept it. You threw the bat first and when it landed on the floor in the upside-down, which by the way, you were half expecting to fall on your face because you still couldn’t believe how the rope was suspended in the air without any kind of support you wasted no time in climbing your way and then falling your way into the hell hole. 

Once again, the door of the trailer was open but you didn’t yet see anybody. Just as you get out to explore and find wherever the hell Eddie and your friends were you see two people running towards you. Dustin Henderson and with him is Eddie Munson with a guitar on his back and a bandana wrapped around his forehead. You were glad would be an understatement. Relief rushed in your mind to finally see him after what felt like ages. You run towards him, not being able to stop yourself any longer. But just when you’re halfway across the distance you hear high-pitched screams and sounds of wings flapping.

“What the hell are those?” you scream as you stand frozen in your spot. Your eyes shift from Eddie to the bat-like monsters flying in the sky and back to Eddie. “Bats, Demogorgon bats, Demobats. Just run.” Dustin screams while emphasising the word ‘run’. 

“No time for explanation sweetheart, we gotta run. Inside the trailer. Now.” 

Eddie grabs your hand and forces you out of your trance-like state. Once inside, you’re almost freaking out. But you don’t need an explanation right now. Right now all you need is to have him close to you and that’s what you do. You hug him, tighter than you had ever before and finally feel yourself relaxing as you catch your breath against Eddie’s shoulders. His hand strokes your hair in an attempt to soothe you as his face buries itself against your hair. Breaking the hug, the two of you try to take in each other’s features as much as you can. 

“I can’t believe you’re here. I thought you were in Lenora”

“I was but I’m here now. I came back for you” 

Your hand reaches out to cradle his face and he melts into your touch. You hadn’t had a moment of peace ever the whole day and you were going to savour each and every moment you get with him now.  

“Uh guys, hate to ruin the moment but do you think those bats could enter through that?” Dustin points at a vent on the ceiling before the lid pops out and a demobat tries to enter while screeching and scratching at the surface. Everybody screams not knowing what to do because clearly, no one was ready for this. Eddie hits at the bat a few times with his spear and then proceeds to cover the vent with the trash can lid that had spikes on it’s inside. 

“We have to get out of here. Right now.” Your words seem to create an immediate effect as the two boys are scrambling on their feet now. Eddie supports Dustin with his hand and helps him get on the rope and as soon as he gets on the other side he does the same for you. You fall onto the mattress. “Eddie get back here. Quick,” you shout from the other side, waiting for him to make that jump and come back home with you. He gives you a look that says “I’m sorry for what I’m going to do but I love you so much” and with that, he cuts the rope with one swift movement of his spear. 

“No, no, no, no, no.” 

“Eddie, no, what are you doing? Stop Eddie, stop, please.” 

You and Dustin watch helplessly, as he runs away in an attempt to distract the demobats. You had him, so close, so, so close to you. But now you were going to lose him. You were going to lose him. If you didn’t do anything right now. Without even saying anything, you drag a chair right under the gate and walk back. You run as fast as you could and jump right through the gate and land on the mattress again. Without losing any more time you grab the metal bat and run after him. 

The bats follow after him but as soon as you come out of the trailer the colony of bats gets divided in two and half of them come after you.

“Shit, shit, Y/n why can’t you just stay there dammit,” Eddie shouts as he stops riding his bicycle and basically falls off of it before making his way to you. “Couldn’t exactly leave you here to die after traveling miles here just to save your ass,” you quip back at him. Your response makes him crack a smile and now the both of you stand with your backs facing each other. 

The bats swoop in one after another attacking you. You dodge most of them and manage to hit a few of them meanwhile Eddie mostly shields with the trash can lid and attacks with the spear with every possible chance he gets. The attacks get more violent now as two of them swoop in to attack you together. You manage to dodge them but not before one of them manages to scratch your leg and you lose your balance. A demobat then attacks Eddie from behind him and gets a hold of his shoulder with its tail. 

“Not so fast you little shit.” You lift up your bat and swing it on its head, killing it off in an instant. “Thank me later after all of this is finished,” you say and take another swing as you hit another demobat that was approaching you. 

The bats weren’t stopping and you were almost out of energy at this point and so was Eddie, but you knew that you had to keep on fighting because otherwise there would be no chance that any of you would survive this. Sweat and blood dripped from your hands and your face onto the ground and your clothes, making your outfit and Eddie’s, quite literally, a bloody mess. “I don’t think I can keep doing this any longer,” you say out loud in between laboured pants. “No, no, no, stay with me honey, we’ll make it through this. It’ll get over soon okay.” He tries to offer you comfort although he himself was not sure if they would make it out alive. But he hoped they did. 

Just as you are on your last legs, too tired to keep standing up, the bats fell down after having been circling the two of you for so long. Glad that it was over, you collapse to the floor, laughing and Eddie does the same. “Now that was awesome,” he says as he lies next to you, catching his breath. 

“Eddie? Y/n? Are you guys okay?” Dustin shouts from somewhere near the trailer. Not wanting to shout back an answer due to your lack of energy you simply raise your hand and signal him a thumbs up. 

“I suppose we can go home now?”

A familiar ring echoes through your house, making you wonder who was at your door so late at night. The clock read, 1:03 am. One look through the peephole and you already know who it is. You open the door in a hurry, worry, and confusion sweeping through your mind immediately upon seeing Magne’s puffy eyes and messy hair. You immediately pull him in and check to see if he’s hurt himself, hands on his face caressing his cheeks as you tilt your head to look for potential cuts and bruises.

“What happened? Are you hurt?” you ask him as you make him sit down on the couch. “Nothing I just- his sentence is cut off in the middle as an unmistakable sob leaves his mouth. Tears start pouring down his face and he’s desperately looking for something to hold on to as he’s used to fiddling with his toy when he’s stressed or overwhelmed. Noticing this, you hold out your hand for him to hold on to and let him fiddle with your fingers until his breathing becomes steady and he calms down. The two of you sit in comfortable silence, each of you thinking of what to say.

Magne breaks the silence first and you intently listen to what he has to say. “Can we- can we hug?” his question sounded more like a request and you answered him with open arms, letting him settle in your embrace. As he’s sitting in your arms you can still feel him tremble occasionally and so you resort to patting his back in an attempt to soothe him. “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong? It’s okay if you don’t want to,” you say. For a minute or two, there was silence again.

“I just felt too overwhelmed. It’s difficult to keep up with everything,” he says as he ends it with a sigh. “School, the war against the Jutuls, everything just feels to be too much for me and I feel like I haven’t been doing enough,” he adds. More tears start pouring from his eyes and his hold on you gets a little tighter. “You need rest Magne, you need to rest,” you say as you draw circles on the back of his neck. “We’ll find a way out of this, we always do, remember?” you reassure him and his hold loosens a little.

You move away, breaking the hug, taking his face in your hands, and wipe his tears away. Your lips touch his forehead, his nose, his cheeks, and then eventually his lips, as you gently place kisses all over his face. “Stay the night?” you ask him, knowing that he wouldn’t refuse your proposal and he nods his head yes.

The bed dipped as he laid down on the soft pillows on your bed. Thoughts raced in his mind as he tries to settle in the cold sheets underneath him. You placed a warm cup of coffee and a plate of cookies on the bedside table and softly nudge him to make him look at you. “Have some, you’ll feel better,” you say as you pat his back, urging him to sit up. You take out the extra, weighted blankets, knowing that he loves the feeling of those blankets as it brings warmth and a sense of comfort to him. Setting another pillow to the side you sit behind him as he finishes the drink. He turns to you, and this time he has a smile on his face, unlike the frown that he had when you saw him earlier before he came through the door. Both of you lay under the blankets as the rain poured in Edda, making the weather colder. He snuggles in closer to you and presses a soft, chaste kiss on your hairline. “Thanks for helping me out love,” he says, expressing his gratitude to you. Soon enough, soft snores were heard throughout the apartment as the two of you fell asleep in each other’s warm embrace.

Liar. You think to yourself. When have you ever thought about Remus and not thought of him a little more than just ‘nothing’. The familiar touch of his fingers on your wrist begins to bring you back to reality as you gaze at his soft expression and wanting nothing more than to hold him close. 

Moments like these, moments where you tend to lose yourself to him, Remus knew what would be in your mind although the thoughts would remain unspoken. You did not have to say it out loud. Your actions speak for you. 

Without wasting another moment you move to sit closer to him, your face buried on the crook of his neck and your arms around his waist. As you settle to make yourself more comfortable his hands find their way to your back, stroking you soothingly in an attempt to make you more comfortable. 

You breathe in the usual scent of wood and pine, something you have gotten used to over the years of living together with him. You close your eyes and decide to focus on his hands stroking your back and start to draw circles on his back as well. 

“Thinking about me sweetheart?”, he asks you while turning his face to look at yours. Oh, how could you ever say no to that face, especially when he’s looking at you? 

“I’m always thinking about you moony”, you tell him with a smile on your face. His left hand now shifts from your back to your face, caressing it softly and removing the few strands of hair that covered your eyes, tucking them gently behind your ear. 

He shifts back a little and takes a moment to admire your features. His eyes trail down to your lips and stop there. No words are spoken as he closes the space between the two of you, lips moving each other and a familiar warmth spreading through your body. Your hands find their way on his neck and your fingers gently tug at his hair as he deepens the kiss. 

Soft laughter and giggles erupt from the two of you as you both can't help but just smile like two lovestruck idiots. Suddenly, it all reminds you of the times where you would find him staring at you during dinner at the hall and how both of you would break into a smile the moment he realizes he's been caught. Or the times when you would sneak out to get some butterbeer only to be scolded by Lily for breaking school rules. 

"Do you remember the one time when we sneaked out to get butterbeer and then got caught by Lily while on our way back?" He asks, with a warm look in his eyes which you could only identify as love. It seems he was thinking of the same thing as you. 

"Why, yes, I do remember that day. Not only did we get caught by Lily and get an earful from her, we also almost knocked out Professor Dumbledore on our way out", you replied as you remembered the day's events. 

That day hadn't been particularly eventful except until you accepted Remus' suggestion to sneak inside The Three Broomsticks and casually get a butterbeer or two while pretending to be adults. While you could have easily used James' invisibility cloak to sneak inside, Remus didn't see any fun in that. According to him, "real fun comes with the risk of being caught". Everything was going well as nobody had taken notice of two young 4th year Hogwarts students entering and mindlessly walking around the inn. But all the planning and courage drained out once you saw a familiar face amongst the crowd- Albus Dumbledore. 

Neither of you were expecting the headmaster to be at the inn and since Dumbledore was quite familiar with Remus and the rest of the marauders, thanks to their mischievous deeds, it was only for the best to make a run for the exit before the two of you get recognized. Remus, oblivious to the fact that the headmaster had entered the inn and was just a few feet apart from the table where you were seated, was about to shout for two butterbeers when you raised your hand to cover his mouth. Afraid that Dumbledore would hear, you simply pointed towards the table across yours and gave him a look that pleaded, 'let's just get out of here'. 

Needless to say, he was a little reluctant at first but when the headmaster rose from his seat and started to walk towards you it was then that the both of you dashed across the inn. But the escape wasn't as smooth as you wished it would be, as the two of you almost knocked out the poor professor in an attempt to run away while still trying to conceal your identity. 

As you come to a stop just before the Hogwarts entrance you can't help but burst out into laughter at what had happened. And as you remembered the bewildered look on Professor Dumbledore's face you only laughed harder. And maybe Remus was thinking about the same thing because he too, laughed along with you. 

This was all years ago when the two of you were still students at Hogwarts. Oh, how the days have passed. You were both now teachers at Hogwarts, him replacing Snape as the defense against the dark arts professor and you as the new transfiguration professor after the second wizarding war. 

Coming back to reality, you now place your hands on top of his as you wait for him to continue with the conversation. "You know, that was the day I realised I had fallen for you," he says, with a look of nostalgia on his face. "When I saw you laugh that day at the school gates I just knew that I always wanted to see you that way. Forever" he continued. "I've always loved you y/n, and I'll always, always, love you". At this, your heart swelled with warmth, with adoration, with love. "I love you too Remmy, and I promise to love you always and forever" you whisper, as you press your forehead on his.