~The moon knows that we're in love~

After the dust settled – quite literally – over Hawkins, you noticed a change in your brother's behavior. At the beginning, you let him be. Let him stay in his room longer. Let him go on his long walks. Let him miss game night after claiming he was just tired.

It wasn’t easy for him to go back to normal. For any of you, honestly. It wasn’t easy playing pretend in a town that didn’t know the truth. All of you were going through the same thing, but you all found solace in each other. Dustin would only find solace in himself. You felt like it had been years since you saw the adorable smile that would light up his face. You wanted to give him time, to let him figure out his thoughts and feelings.

But you miss your brother. You miss his stupid jokes and weird facts. Your mom didn’t complain. She wanted to, but she guessed it was the stress of everything that changed her little Dustybun. The kids worried. You could see it in their eyes whenever Dustin made an off-putting comment to any of you. Steve, on the other hand… was mad. He hated seeing his friend like that, and you figured from all these pent-up emotions, the line between worrying for him and hating his behavior thinned. You didn’t like their bickering; it made you feel small. Useless.

Yesterday was a big one between them. After yet another unsuccessful crawl, the emotions ran high, and so did some tongues. Steve made a snappy comment about Dustin’s new strategy and that just started the fire between them. You didn’t know what to do anymore. At the moment, you spaced out. You blocked out the words so that your heart would at least stop tightening so much.

You were desperate to feel a sense of normalcy between you all. That’s what brought you to his door tonight.

You knocked softly and waited for a response. When nothing came you spoke up with your strongest voice “Hey… Can I come in?”

For a moment you truly believed the door would stay closed, but to your surprise, it finally opened.

“Hi.” you said after peaking inside the room and seeing Dustin on top of his notebooks.

“Hi.” his voice was short, unbothered by your presence here.

“I’m bored, so I was thinking of going to the movies tonight.” You went straight to the point, hoping for the best “They’re playing The Dark Crystal. You loved it when we first watched it. What do you say? Want to turn back time a little bit?”

“You can’t turn back time.”

“Well, yeah, but you can feel like a kid again.” Even though his frame is bigger and his hair longer, to your eyes, he would always be the little kid with the toothy smile. You still couldn’t comprehend how much he had grown and how much he had changed.

“And do what?”

You weren’t going to accept defeat “We can order in then. Mom left some money to buy pizza. We can play a board game, I can ask Steve to bring some slush-”

“Hard pass.”

“Oh, come on, Dustin. Yesterday was nothing.” You tried to ease the tension “You were just exhausted from the crawl. You know he didn’t mean anything he said.”

“I know I did.” He answered shortly.

“Dustin.”

“I have studying to do. Even though the world might be ending, and school is fucking stupid, my tests aren’t going to write themselves. So, I’m not in the mood for a lecture, Y/n.” he turned his back on  you, hair falling from his ears, hiding his eyes from you.

Your heart clenched. You bit your lips and stayed quiet. Your hand fell on the door handle, but as you were slowly closing the door, a force stopped you. ‘One last try’ you thought.

“Look, Dustin… if you want to talk about anything, you know I’m always here.” Your voice was gentle and you waited for his welcoming embrace or his hard punch.

“I know how well you can keep secrets to yourself, Y/n.” Hard punch it is then.

“I mean, with the anniversary of Edd-” you didn’t have the time even to utter his whole name before Dustin was stopping you harshly.

“You’re the last person I want to talk to about Eddie.” Saying in between the lines what he’s been meaning to say since last year, hurt you like a truck.

You knew he blamed you. From the moment things started getting quieter in Hawkins, since you began adjusting to the new “normal” and you could think about life again, you could feel it. Of course, it’s your fault. You know that. You hate yourself for it.

If you hadn’t told Eddie your plan, he would have been alive. He wouldn’t have sacrificed himself. It would be you going after the demobats. Maybe you would have survived it, maybe you wouldn’t have. But it would have been you. It had been your responsibility.

Deep down, you were always certain this is the reason your brother avoids you. Hates you.

“Dustin-”

“You can close the door on your way out. I have studying… Remember?” he still wouldn’t look at you.

That shut you up for good. You didn’t let another word out. Another sound. Even when your lip trembled. Even when your eyes teared up. Even when your throat tightened up so much you could barely breathe. You slowly closed the door, and only when you made your way back to the kitchen did you let the first sob come out.

You didn’t know how long you had been crying in the kitchen alone, and you didn’t know how much longer you would have stayed if the phone hadn’t rang. Your head shot up, and you dried your eyes with your wrinkled shirt, sniffing your nose to try to sound at least a bit normal to whoever was calling.

“Hello?”

“Hey, babe, I’m just on my way to come get your guys for the cinema. You ready?”

Steve. You forgot he was supposed to pick you up so you could all go to the cinema.

“Hey. Um, actually, we just decided to cancel it.” You hoped your voice was strong enough to sound convincing.

“What?”

“Yeah. I’m still tired from last night and Dustin has a lot of studying to do, so…”

“Sure studying.” he had the exact same tone of irony as Dustin and you felt your eyes tear up again. You just wanted to go to bed.

“I’m not in the mood, Steve.”

“Certain we’re not going because of me?”

‘Oh, I’m certain’ you thought. Sure, his actions chipped in, but tonight made it clear for you that Dustin didn't want anything to do with you now. You weren't his sister anymore, you were the reason Eddie died.

“I don’t know. Maybe you shouldn’t have talked to Dustin like that yesterday.” your painful headache spoke before you could think. You couldn't tell him what really troubled you, what really went down, and you knew redirecting the blame to him was low, but you were tired. Exhausted. And you felt alone. Alone in a house didn't feel welcoming anymore.

“Okay- I- I’m sorry about that, but he’s being ridiculous half the time and unbearable the other.” his voice was rising slightly, and you didn't have the time for yet another strike at your heart.

“Stop it.” your voice almost cracked, but you held it in.

“Y/n.” he sounded desperate to talk to you. To fix it. But what happened is unfixable. It can't go back to the way it used to be.

You just wanted to accept the defeat tonight “I’ll see you tomorrow at the WSQK, okay? Goodnight.”

“Okay... I love you.” He said it after a beat. You honestly thought he wouldn't. But despite both your moods, you knew what you felt.

This whole situation was testing you, reaching your limits again and again. But if you all turned on each other, what was the point of it all? Of fighting the bad if good can't live on? So, despite your heavy heart, you replied, because you knew if you didn't, you would hate yourself even more. You have just lost one person you love; you can't lose another one, not on the same night.

“Me too. Goodnight, Steve.”

If you want to be tagged just ask!

So I saw coming the whole Larissa is JJ's mom. The thing is... I genuinely don't think that Chandler is his dad. I believe that Chandler may think that he is his father (hence the weird interaction) but I think someone else is his dad. And the show has been dropping hints this season.

I think it's Shoupe. They have been focusing on him waaayy too much this season, and he has been very obsessed with JJ's connection with the Genrettes. Also, it was very convenient how he had a photo copy available of the article of when Larissa and the baby (JJ) died after all these years. He also made a comment when he was interrogating the group that yeah he knew Larissa... Small town he said.

I may be wrong, but I have a feeling that I also may be right? I don't know. I really want to be right if I'm being honest. But I'm definitely sure that Shoupe is more involved in this than we know.

“I have gathered you here today on an important issue.” Dustin was pacing around Mike's basement while all the rest of his friends followed him with their eyes “It is crucial that we take upon this matter with focus and determination. Not to mention stealthiness since a bit of spy work is going to occur.”

“Dustin, why are we here?” his dramatics had Max over the whole thing very quickly.

“It has come to my attention that my sister, my own blood, has been seeing someone behind my back and simultaneously lying to me about it.”

“And?” Lucas asked, not understanding his friend’s anger.

“What do you mean and? This is it!”

“You’re mad your sister has finally found someone?” Will was trying to understand Dustin’s motives.

“I’m mad she hasn’t told me about it. I mean, why would she do that? I certainly tell her everything.” his pacing hasn’t stopped from the moment he entered the basement.

“Maybe because she wants to focus on the new relationship and not on her little brother’s obnoxious opinions?” Max told him with a smile, making Dustin stop in his tracks.

“You’re new, you don’t get a say.” he pointed in her direction and continued his pattern on the floor.

“Dustin, what do you want us to do?” Mike sighed when he saw Dustin place large papers on top of a chair, opposite to them, a pen in his hand as he settled beside them. It reminded him of their teacher, and not in a good way.

“I want you to come with me and spy on her.” he removed his first blank paper, revealing a calendar with colorful dots on certain days “It all started a month ago. I realized she began going out a lot more than usual. I mean I love my sister, but let’s be honest, she doesn’t have many friends.” he pulled out another paper, this time a pie chart with all the colors they had previously seen on the calendar “So, I began tracking her behavior. When she would go out, when she would return, and try to figure out with whom. So far, I’ve noted 14 outings in the span of 29 days… She went out with Jonathan twice, once with Nancy, once with you, Max, and you, Eleven, for girl’s night. Three times with all of us and another three with me. That all makes 10. The other 4 are a mystery to me.” with each sentence, each ‘clue’, he was pointing the pen at every chart so the rest wouldn’t get lost

“When she hangs out with friends, I have noticed Y/n coming back at a decent hour, say around 10:30, at least 11:00. However, when she’s ‘on her own’ those hours defer.” the new paper showed the said hours with a big question mark at the end “I have caught her sneaking into the house well after 1:00 am! Clearly, she’s not out there on her own. But I haven’t been able to figure out with whom. I checked with both Nancy and Jonathan telling me that they had not seen her those specific days. She’s clearly with someone doing something, but when I ask her about what she did and where she went she outright lies to me, saying she was with Jonathan and/or Nancy.” he let the last paper fall flat on the chair, the pen rhythmically hitting his other palm “It is our mission to figure out who she is meeting on these days, so I can evaluate if I need to step in and help her.”

The kids all looked at one another, trying to see if they wanted in on this. His thinking could be correct, but the thought of him being wrong and giving them the chance to mess with him is what sealed the deal.

“Alright, we’re in.” Mike announced for all of them. Dustin’s face immediately lit up.

“But how do we know when their next meet-up is?” Lucas asked him.

“Already ahead of you my friend.” he began organizing the papers he had used, stacking them into his bag before putting it on “I overheard Y/n talk with my mother, saying she’s going out. Again, wouldn’t outright tell me with whom. So that’s why I came here, to find out if Nancy had any plans. As it turns out she did. But not with my sister, with Jonathan. Right?” his eyes fell on Will.

“Yeah, they are hanging out at ours.” Will confirmed Dustin’s words.

“Okay, so that excludes them from this ‘secret meet up’.” Max thought out loud.

“Precisely.” they were now getting out of the house from the basement’s door, making their way to their bikes.

“So… Where is she?” Eleven asked, her small voice was now loud enough for all to hear, turning their heads at once to look at Dustin.

Dustin wasn’t sure at the beginning where his sister would be. She had mentioned she would leave around 8:30. Now, he had left earlier to check on her small lie at the Wheeler’s, so their first stop was at his house to check if her car was still there. It was, which meant either of two things. She either walked to their meeting place (which was unlikely of her after everything that had happened to them, walking somewhere alone was a no-no for his sister). Or the person she was meeting picked her up. It left a lot of options open so he decided to head inside with the rest and look for more clues.

His mom greeted them, chatting a bit with the kids while Dustin looked around for any indication as to where she went. He noticed that her sneakers were missing, telling Dustin that they weren’t going somewhere fancy, so maybe their destination was the theater or maybe grabbing a bite somewhere.

“Hey, mom. I was thinking of eating the leftover pizza from last night after I come back. Y/n didn’t eat it, right?” he looked over at his mom, Tews on her lap as always.

“Oh, no, Dusty, she specifically said that she didn’t want to have anything since she’ll be going out to eat with her friends.”

Bingo.

Dustin excluded from the options list the diner where you used to work. Too many people knew you there and the secrecy wouldn’t last. So, they began roaming around the town trying to get a glimpse of you. They succeeded after a couple of tries. Lucas had caught a glimpse of your figure inside the burger place. You were sitting in a corner booth in the back of the store, your face bright, not only by the lights of the place but by your present company as well.

“Holy shit. Dustin was right.” Max climbed out of her bike, staring at the older sister of her new friend.

“Of course I was. Can you see who she is with?”

“No, his back is turned.” Lucas tried to wiggle around in an attempt to see who was with you.

We’re gonna have to get inside.” Mike noted and Dustin agreed.

“Not all of us, we’ll draw attention. Will, you’re coming with me.” the said boy wasted no time and followed his friend toward the entryway.

“Why him?” Mike called out, annoyed he wasn’t getting in on the action.

“Because he’ll be quiet, unlike you.” Dustin whisper-yelled.

They get inside and make their way to the end of the front counter. When they peaked at the back, they had a clearer shot at the two figures. Dustin could clearly see your big, bright smile, but the guy you were with was sitting opposite of you, meaning they could only see his back

“We still can’t see his face.”

“Wait… I know that hair.” Dustin’s eyes squinted as he focused on the person in question. The waiter had approached them, his lips moving, probably asking them if everything was okay. It was then when the mysterious guy turned his head, making him visible to him, a relieved sigh falling from his lips  “Oh, it’s just Steve.”

He and Will went outside without alerting you, joining the others once again.

“Okay, people, crisis averted. It was only Steve, just a friendly meet-up.” he announced to his friends before he grabbed his bike, ready to return home.

“Sure.” Max smirked his way, suddenly making a frown appear on Dustin’s face.

“Uh… Dustin? I don’t think this is very friend-like.” Mike was pointing to the restaurant. Dustin turned and met the horror. Steve had now switched his seat, joining you on your side. His arm was around your shoulders, your faces way too close for his liking. And then it happened. Steve kissed you.

Dustin was waiting for you to return back home. He was in the dark, his mother fast asleep, not realizing her own son was stewing hot. He was ready. Ready to tell you he knows your secret and ready to express his anger. He liked Steve, he didn’t like showing it, but he did. He was funny and honest with him, and a guy. He had a guy friend. Someone whom he could rely on when seeking advice. He knew he could come to you about everything, but sometimes he felt too embarrassed to say certain things. He was getting older, more ‘mature’ as his mother had said, and Steve had been through those things before, therefore could give him the advice he needed.

He liked Steve, but now he was afraid he was going to lose him… and you. You always wanted to be in a relationship and now that you were in one, you were going to spend all your time with each other, forgetting all about the party and mainly him. Or you would eventually break up and he would have to choose your side, his sister’s, and forcing him to say goodbye to his friend.

It all felt unacceptable to him, so he had to tell you about it.

Finally, he heard a car stop outside. After a couple of minutes, your keys were daggling as you opened the door. He watched you come inside, a lingering smile on your face as you took off your jacket and placed it on the hook beside the door. You were in the process of taking off your shoes when he decided to intervene.

“Hello, sister.”

He startled you, a small yelp coming from your lips as you squinted your eyes to see where your brother was hiding “Dustin? What are you doing in the dark? Do you know what time it is?”

“Do you?” he countered back, catching you by surprise.

“What?”

“How was your night?”

“Oh… It was really fun actually, thanks for asking. But this still doesn’t answer my question as to what you’re still doing up.” your arms were now folded in front of your chest, thinking you had the upper hand here.

“Oh, I just had a simple question really. Who were you with?”

It took you a second to form your question, confusion rising inside you “What?”

“I was over at Mike’s today and I stumbled upon Nancy.” Dustin stood up from the armchair and walked closer to you as he explained “I asked her if she was on her way to come get you, but she told me she wasn’t meeting with you. She was actually going to meet up with Jonathan for a date at his place.”

“Oh…” was all that came from your lips.

“I know who you met tonight. I followed you and found out you are secretly dating Steve.” his finger was accusingly pointing at your figure. He didn’t know what reaction he was really expecting from you but it certainly wasn’t what you said next.

“I’m not dating him, Dustin.”

“Wait, what?”

“We’re not dating.” you shrugged your shoulders and sat down on the couch.

“But he kissed you. I saw it!”

“I don’t know what to tell you, okay? It’s all very confusing.” your head your resting on top of your palms. You looked defeated, confused, sad, a whole different side of you than the one he had seen at the restaurant. He slowly approached you, sitting next to you. You looked up and saw him looking at you, a silent invitation to explain “It all started after we dropped you off at the ball. We happened to dance a little and it ended in a kiss. After that, we’ve been hanging out as much as we could and, yes, I admit, some kissing has gone down, but I don’t know what we are.”

Dustin noted that your voice was small but your feeling big “Do you like him?”

You looked up and locked eyes with your brother. You hadn’t been able to tell no one this, and you had no idea how much it was eating at you to get it out before this conversation “Very much.”

“Then I’m certain it will all work out.”

And just like that Dustin had forgotten all about his speech. He could still remember the way you smiled at him, thanking him with a big hug. It was the same smile when you picked up the phone, a couple of days later, Steve’s name falling from your lips. It was a soft one, your focus entirely on the voice coming from the phone, from his friend. When you finally hung up, a small shriek sounded all around the room. After just a moment he found out you were excited, beyond excited because he had asked you out on a date.

“Didn’t you go on one like yesterday?” he had asked.

“This is the first time he uses the word date, Dustin. The first time!”

He secretly smiled at your antics, even if in front of you he called it gross. When you returned home after that so-called ‘first date’, bliss was written all over your face. The next day, you all were meeting with the party for a campaign, the first time you would include Steve in your game. The first time he would see you two together officially for the first time. It was funny seeing him make all the wrong decisions and getting himself killed in the first thirty minutes. It was hilarious seeing you and him bicker about what you should do next. Steve making it his business to judge you all based on your actions. And it was certainly sweet when he would cheer with you after a successful roll. It didn’t seem all that different to him; your behavior.

It was after the campaign when Steve was talking his ear off on the way to their house about what movie you should see at the next movie night with the kids, that it truly hit him. Nothing would change. You would still be his sister and Steve would still be his friend. It couldn’t be that bad. Especially, if he saw his sister so happy every day.

If you want to be tagged just ask!

The next 2 days were a mess. Police report after police report. Explanation after explanation. And lots of angry parents.

Luckily you had the government on your side, so the lies were told for you. An earthquake they called it. Another tragedy that hit this small, little town. You remembered how you scoffed when you first heard those words on the news.

After Eddie died the world around you was so still and quiet, you actually thought that the others had succeeded. When, suddenly, everything went to shit. The whole ground rumbled beneath you, snapping you out of your state. You grabbed onto Dustin, his body weighing on you for support as he could barely walk on his hurt leg, desperately trying to quickly make your way to the trailer for cover, not knowing what was going on. However, it quickly became clear that the trailer was the one place you definitely should not go. The whole thing snapped, completely collapsed before you as a line began separating the ground, splitting it. The color was familiar, red like hell’s gates… Or every gate you had ever encountered.

“He’s bleeding into Hawkins…” Dustin had realized, and he was right. That was Vecna’s plan, and, for a good while, it looked like he was succeeding, the ripped line becoming bigger and bigger, following a direction you couldn’t see. You and Dustin were holding on each other as tight as possible until the earthquake you were feeling stopped. Again, everything had stilled.

You remembered not being able to move a muscle until a pair of arms engulfed you and Dustin. It shocked you, and panicked you as you prepared to fight off whoever had sneaked upon you, when a small shush filled your ears, your body reacting to it faster than your brain was able to register it was Steve’s voice, Steve’s arms, just him. Finding out he was alive had brought you back to tears, letting your one arm tangle itself around him, your other still protecting Dustin.

After that everything was a blur, as if your brain was slowly giving up on you, too tired to gather any more information. You managed to go back out, heading towards the town to find several guards and paramedics already there to take action. You got yourselves sorted, attending to small wounds, your, larger-than-you-thought slash on your cheek, and taking care of Dustin’s sprained foot. You don’t really remember how you went back home. Steve stayed with you and Dustin that night, your own mother insisting when she heard him say his parents weren’t at the house, ‘No way was he going to stay alone at this time’ were her words and you agreed, your hand not leaving Steve’s even for a second. After you had hugged your mother goodnight you decided all three of you would stay together for the night. You pulled out the sofa which ended up being occupied by you and Dustin, and Steve gladly took the armchair, his soft snores filling the room, slowly pulling you to a deep sleep.

By the next morning, you all had to pretend as if nothing had happened. Your mother had even more questions than you could ever imagine, about where were you before everything happened, and you ended up coming up with good enough lies to ease her worries and not raise any suspicions.

But it was hard to act as if everything was okay, especially when Luca’s phone call came. Dustin answered it. You had been trying to find them since yesterday, but no one was picking up. Neither Lucas nor Max. Dustin called you and Steve over when he heard Lucas’s voice, happy to hear his friend. But the grin he had put on quickly faded as he listened to what he had to say. Max was attacked last night, that’s why Vecna succeeded in his plan, and even if she had somehow escaped him once more, her condition was bad. Steve drove you two to the hospital to check on her. You found Lucas sitting next to her, holding hands, as he read to her. You’re not sure how you had contained your tears, maybe you felt the need to be strong for them, to be able to pull Lucas from the chair and guide him to the small couch in the room, trying to get him to sleep for a couple of hours. You managed to do so after you promised not to leave her side, not even for a moment.

So that’s what you did for the next four hours. You just sat around her, not daring to take your eyes away from her form, wishing, praying for her to open her eyes and call you idiots for worrying. But she didn’t, and when Lucas woke up you went back home to have an early dinner and try to calm yourselves.

It was later that evening when Nancy called your house, telling you that her family would be donating some stuff to the shelter Hawkins had built at the school’s gymnasium to attend to anyone who needed help. You immediately agreed and promised to bring some of your own stuff the next morning.

So that’s what you were now doing, alongside Dustin, Steve, and Robin, trying to assemble to boxes in a way that would fit in the back of Steve’s car.

You were too focused on the matter that you weren’t able to hear another car stop at the house, only Mrs. Wheeler’s voice grabbing your attention.

“Someone order a pizza?”

“Pizza?” Dustin questioned and turned around along with the rest of you. Before you, was a yellow, small pizza delivery truck. You didn’t know what to make of it until four familiar faces presented themselves. Eleven, Mike, Will, and Jonathan were back, also a random dude that had beautiful hair.

You were able to finally let out a real smile, happy to see them okay after days of no response from them. You let your arms fall around Eleven and Will as they hugged you and Dustin. Your hand was caressing Eleven’s cheek when Will popped a question.

“Where’s Lucas?”

“He’s at the hospital.” Dustin answered as if it should be obvious to them.

“Is he hurt?” Eleven asked, worry in her eyes.

“No.” you quickly answered as Dustin continued.

“No, he’s… Oh God… You don’t know.”

After saying hello to everybody, you split up the group. Nancy was going to drive the kids, and Jonathan to the hospital to see Max, while you, Steve, Dustin, and Robin would head to the school and help in any way that you can.

You carried one of the three boxes and went inside after Steve had parked the car. The gymnasium was filled with people, harmed and not. Some of them were lying in the small beds around the gym while others were tending to them. Some, and it broke your heart, were trying to find their loved ones, searching in the crowd of endless faces or adding one more poster to the ‘missing people’ wall. You averted your eyes when you caught a glimpse of Eddie’s face on one of the papers, calming your heartbeat as you neared the donations stand.

“Hi.” Robin told the woman with a smile on her face “Uh, so these are blankets and sheets. And some- some clothes, and- and some kids’ toys.” she points to each of the boxes in order.

The girl, Melissa as it says on her tag, took a look at the boxes and answered with a smile “Wow, it’s already so organized. We appreciate that. Do you want a tax receipt for it?”

“Um… No. I don’t think that we need one. Thank you, though.” Robin tells her. She turns to look at each of you, the question in on all of your minds, and you answer her by nodding your head “But is there anything else that we can do to help?”

Melissa smiled and happily assigned you spots after giving you your own tags. You and Steve went to help out in clothing, where, you quickly realized, they were in desperate need of assistance. Dustin was handing out water despite his strained foot, and Robin was helping out with the food.

Melissa introduced you to the woman in charge of the clothing station, who rapidly caught you up to speed “Okay, then we sort by age.” you tried your best to keep up with her and miss no detail “We’ve got infants, girls, boys, men, women… Oh, if anything’s too bad a shape, we really don’t want that.”

She didn’t stay long with you. It was pretty easy to sort out and a great way to clear your head, so you and Steve fell into a trance quickly. As you folded the clothes you let your eyes roam the room and after a second they landed on Robin who was sharing her company with a familiar figure. You immediately smirked and nudged Steve to look in the same direction. He smiled as well at the two women, smiling and giggling away like no one else was with them “Told you.” he simply said and you chuckled.

It felt nice to joke around after another crazy adventure. You wanted to savor the time the quietness lasted, even though deep down, you truly hoped this would finally be over. But it never seemed to last. And something told you this time it won’t either. You just believed you had a moment to breathe, however, the change in the atmosphere outside told you otherwise.

When you realized the sun had hidden you took a look in the sky, hoping no thunderstorm was coming your way, but what you met made your blood run cold. The sky was grey, with huge clouds adorning the sky.

However, what caught your attention were the small flakes falling gently. As you neared the windows, alongside Steve and Robin, you could hear people asking with confusion why was it snowing mid-spring, but the three of you knew this wasn’t snow. This was the Upside Down coming to you, taking over your city, following you everywhere.

This definitely wasn’t over.

If you want to be tagged just ask!

A couple of hours later, you were ready. Everyone was suited and geared up. Your first stop was at Vecna’s house where Max, Lucas, and Erica will be waiting for the rest of you to continue the plan. After your goodbyes, Steve started driving again. The sun slowly but surely set, leaving a golden hue surrounding you and, if you weren’t nervous as hell, you would have found it beautiful.

Finally, you arrived back at Hawkins. Steve parked the trailer a little further away from the trailer park so you wouldn’t get spotted. You got up from your seat and made your way to the rest who were around Nancy, awaiting her instructions.

“Okay. I wanna run through it one more time. Phase one?” she looked up at all of you, expecting someone to answer her, Robin jumping in on the opportunity.

“After a small change of plans, we-” Robin points to her, Nancy, and Steve “meet Erica at the playground. She’ll signal Max and Lucas when we’re ready.”

“Phase two.”

“Max baits Vecna. He’ll go after her, which’ll put him in his trance.” Steve answers next.

“Phase three?”

“Me, Y/n, and Eddie draw the bats away.” Dustin said, Eddie silently agreeing by playfully annoying your brother as he ruffled his head, bringing a small smile on his face. It made your own plan even more important.

“Four.” you heard Nancy demand the final step.

“We head into Vecna’s hopefully newly bat-free lair, and…” Robin shakes the self-made bomb in her hand “Flambe.”

“Nobody moves on to the next phase until we’ve all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?” she asks you all and you answer back.

“Got it.”

You gather your things and start getting off the trailer one by one. All of you were silent, carefully making your way back to Eddie’s home. Steve goes in first, turns on the lights and prepares to get through the portal again.

“Be careful.” Dustin says to him from beside you, and in return Steve pats his shoulder.

“Thanks, buddy. Here goes nothing.” he said under his breath and starts climbing the poorly made rope successfully landing on the other side. A proud smirk on his face as he looks up at you and sends you a wink.

“Whoa, what does he want us to do, applaud?” Robin asks sarcastically, making you chuckle.

“Come on.” you told her when Steve finished setting up the mattress on the other side and helped her get through as well.

In no time you were all back in the Upside Down. You go outside with the girls ready to bid your goodbyes.

“Make sure you fry him up.” you tell Nancy as you give her a quick hug.

“Will do.”

“Also make sure Robin doesn’t burn up on accident.” you point at your other friend who immediately looks offended.

“Hey! You’re the one who wanted to be a responsible sister and left me in the field.”

“You can handle it.” you smile at her opening up your arms wide for her. As you stepped away from them your heart clenched to say and do more, maybe tell them you love and care for them, but you couldn’t show them what was happening inside of you, or they would try to stop you. In the end, if everything goes right, your plan will be nothing but a thought you had due to the adrenaline and fear inside of you. They don’t have to know.

You start walking back to the guys, Steve’s words catching your attention.

“If things here start to go south, I mean, at all, you abort. Okay?” you bite your lip as you continue listening to him “Draw the attention of the bats. Keep them busy for a minute or two. We’ll take care of Vecna. Don’t try to be cute or be a hero or something. Okay? You guys are just-”

“Decoys.” you finished his sentence after placing a soft hand on the small of his back alerting him of your presence.

“Don’t worry. You can be the hero, Steve.” Dustin told him making Eddie nod his head.

“Absolutely. I mean, look at us. We are not heroes.” Eddie looked as if he meant to say that comically, however, his eyes showed just how scared he was. You couldn’t blame him.

“They’ll be safe.” your voice made Steve turn and face you, his arms immediately opening up to let your embrace in “Come back alive.” you whispered into his ear.

“We’ll get through this together. Right?” his question was harmless, just something to ease the situation because he knew you were going to be okay. He was actually very glad you would be far away from the real danger. At least he knew you were going to get out of this alive.

You didn’t. And the mention of your old promise to each other broke your heart. So instead of answering, instead of letting your, maybe, final words be a lie to your boyfriend, you leaned in for a kiss, a passionate one that helped ease the storm within you. He responded quickly, returning the force of the kiss back. However, your moment was broken by an annoyed voice.

“Stop doing that in front of me.” your brother whined.

“I have every right to kiss my girlfriend goodbye before going on a killing mission.” Steve argued back.

“Yeah, just not in front of me.” Dustin sassed right back at him.

“Bye. I love you.” you kissed his cheek after letting a small chuckle out.

“I love you.” he returned it. It took a small moment for him to leave your group but he eventually started walking over to Nancy, and Robin.

“Hey, Steve?” his movement stopped when he heard Eddie calling out his name “May him pay.” he gave him a small nod, and after a quick look at you and Dustin, his own journey began within the forest of Upside Down Hawkins.

You watched them disappear into the darkness before getting back to work.

“Come on, boys. Our fortress awaits.”

“Lead the way, High Elf Erida!” Dustin brought back memories with the use of your D&D name, making you chuckle on your way in.

“How are you doing over here?” your head turns to look at Eddie coming outside to check on you. You were nailing some pieces of wood to the windows so the inside stays protected when the bats get really angry at you.

“Good. Just making sure these stay up. All good upstairs?” him and Dustin were up to the roof setting up Eddie’s music gear for the plan.

“Yeah, everything is almost set. I’ll go tell Dustin to come down so we can help you.” he turned his body to leave but you were quick to stop him, thinking this would be the perfect moment to warn him.

“Hey, uh… Eddie?” he gives you his whole attention as he nods for you to continue “I need to tell you something.”

“What’s up, Henderson? Or should I say what’s down?” he chuckles a little but stops when he sees you not reacting to the joke “You know because we’re in- Never mind.”

You cleared your throat before speaking up again “If something goes south later on, stay with Dustin.”

“What?” he looks at you confused.

“I decided to stay here so I can make sure Dustin stays safe. Not that I don’t trust you, but I’m his sister. And I made a promise to myself that if something goes wrong , I’ll deal with it. No matter what.” your voice is stern, your eyes never wavering from his own.

“Wait, what? No. You can’t do that. We’re a team, you’re not supposed to throw yourself into danger. We’re decoys, remember?” he tells you, not wanting to believe what you were saying.

“I’m not asking you Eddie. I’m telling you. You haven’t seen what I have these few years. Everything can and has gone wrong. What we’re doing is dangerous, and I am willing to make every sacrifice to ensure that he stays safe. All I want from you is to stay by his side. He’s gonna need you.” you want to be strong but you can’t help it when your voice softens in the end.

“Y/n…” Eddie’s eyes are furrowed, and you decide to send him a smile to ease the heavy air around you.

“Just hold him back and tell him I love him. Okay?”

He can see that you mean your words so truly he could do or say nothing to stop you. As a game master, he has written hundreds of scenes where heroes sacrifice themselves to save their loved ones. Letting go of their own fears to help the rest. He always thought those were just stories, words on a piece of paper that never really fit into the cruelty of the real world he was in. But when he got into this mess he quickly realized how wrong he was. Your selflessness, Steve’s courage, Nancy’s determination, Robin’s loyalty, and Dustin’s cleverness made him see that.

So, he decided to respect your wishes and made a promise to himself to try and be as brave as you all were. At least try to be “Okay…”

You let a breath out when you heard him agree. You were glad Dustin was going to have one more person to look after him if you didn’t return “Thank you.”

“Are we nearly done with our fortress?” Dustin’s voice is heard before he walks out to face you. You make sure to change your demeanor immediately so he won’t suspect anything.

“Sure are, kid. Go check with Eddie what else we can use while I finish this up.” you point to the window before you and he nods his head, already turning away to complete the task.

“Great.” you notice however that Eddie is kind of stuck in his place, his mind full of thought “Come on, Eddie, or the bats are gonna getcha.”

Luckily Dustin doesn’t suspect anything and his words seem to get Eddie out of his trance.

“So pushy.”

After almost half an hour, you are finally done with the trailer. You stand back with the boys admiring your work.

“Not bad.” Eddie says and your brother quickly agrees.

“Not bad at all.”

“Now for the fun part.” you scoff at Eddie’s words.

“You mean the deafening part?”

His whole body does a 180 turn as he points his finger at you teasingly “Don’t you dear speak about Metallica that way. They’re gonna save lives.” you push his shoulder and guide him inside the trailer. You enter his bedroom and the boys freeze at the sight of it.

You can hear Eddie whimper beside you before he began walking forward again, slowly “It’s like… She was destined for an alternate dimension.” he stands before the electric guitar and calls out for your brother “What do you say, Henderson? Are you ready for the most metal concert in the history of the world.” he asks him after he picked up the guitar from its stand.

“Is that a rhetorical question?”

“You’re both dorks.” you tell them and turn to leave the room and them behind, making your way up to the roof.

The boys stare in your direction before smirking at one another, adrenaline coursing through their veins in excitement “Let’s do it.” Eddie said and followed after you.

You are not sure how much time you were waiting but finally the radio sparked to life, Robin’s voice informing you to start phase three.

“Copy that. Initiating phase three.” Dustin answers and motions for you to plug in the stereos.

“Let’s hope they hear this.” you say under your breath and turn the volume all the way up before nodding over at Eddie to start.

“Chrissy, this is for you.” he takes his pick from his necklace and starts playing his guitar. The music is so loud that for a moment you shut your ears, but the surprise quickly left you and you ended up sharing a moment of happiness with your brother as you enjoyed Eddie’s skill.

Every now and then Dustin would check with his binoculars if the plan was working. Finally, he spotted the bats and called out for Eddie.

“We gotta lock down in T-minus thirty seconds!” he signals with his hands the time you have left and Eddie nods. Your eyes keep shifting from Eddie to the creature closing in, your breaths becoming shorter and shorter as you felt like those 30 seconds were a lifetime.

Dustin continued to inform Eddie about the time every 10 seconds when finally you were down to just 5. Eddie continued to play and your panic rose.

“One!” Dustin yells and you grab his shoulders, forcing him to get off the trailer and head inside. Eddie stopped, placed the guitar down, and followed after you.

“Come on!” you called out to him, grabbing his arm and running inside the trailer quickly. The bats were right behind you, and you had only a couple of seconds to close the door and get inside safely.

Your back was against the door, panting as you tried to calm yourself down.

“Dude! Most metal ever!” Dustin said in excitement and they both began jumping up and down.

You chuckled at their antics and went in to hug them both after they had stopped. They returned it and you sighed “We’re not done yet. Get into positions.” they nodded and you all grabbed your weapons, your backs facing each other as you circled around the room waiting for any unwelcomed movement.

You can hear the bats shrieking outside, calling for you to come out. From time to time one of them would strike the trailer in hopes of tearing it but to no avail. Suddenly everything stopped which made chills run down your entire body.

“Hey, dipshits! Give up that easy, huh?” Dustin yells out and you immediately shush him.

“Is that really necessary?” Eddie asks him, obviously agreeing with you and the fact that you need to stay quiet.

Your eyes kept on searching for something to happen when noise came from above you.

“They’re on the roof.” you said, and Dustin cursed.

You followed the clattering sound, you in the front, Dustin behind you, and Eddie located at the back. You realize that the creature has made its way near the air vent. You stopped before it, holding your weapon high.

“They can’t get in through there, can they?” Dustin asks you and before you can do anything, the bat answers his question by breaking through the trailer. For a moment you were taken back but none of you held back. You began screaming and went over to stab the living shit out of them.

It was never-ending, more and more trying to make their way inside. You felt a loss from beside you and saw from the corner of your eye Eddie leaving your group. Dustin calls out for him to come back, and he does but not empty-handed.

“Get out of the way!” Eddie kept on screaming at you and you obeyed without any second thought, stepping back quickly, your weapon falling from your hands. He had grabbed his shield to close the hole in the roof and stop them from getting in. It luckily stays on there, due to the nails you had put on it.

You take a deep breath “Nice thinking.”

“Thanks.” he answers you before high-fiving your brother. You hoped this would be the end of it but the clattering and the shrieking hadn’t stopped.

“Are there other vents?” you asked Eddie and his eyes open.

“Oh shit.” he jumps down from the chair he was on and heads further into the trailer.

You pick up your own weapon again and followed him into his room but you were too late. The bats had already found the other way in. Dustin hadn’t realized you had stopped so he ran past you and into the room, but you were quick enough and were able to grab him and pull him behind you. You closed the door and began walking backward, away from the room. The bats were quickly tearing through the door.

“That’s not gonna hold!” Dustin yelled in fear when he took a look at the sight before you.

You turned your head around trying to come up with a solution, deciding on your own plan. When your eyes fell on the rope in front of you, you pushed Dustin at it “Go! Go! Go!” he didn’t waste a second and began pulling himself up. He was so focused on making it across that he didn’t realize you weren’t following behind. He didn’t see you picking up your spear once more.

“Don’t do this…” Eddie begged you, grabbing you by your arm, but you ignored his pleas.

“You promised.” you handed him the rope and got free from his hold, turning toward the exit.

You tried your best to ignore how Dustin was calling out for you to get back, finally understanding what you were doing. You weren’t sure how you were going to get the bats away but you needed to do something.

Your palm touched the knob but before you could open the door, a hand falls on your shoulder forcefully pulling you away. Your body hit the floor and when you looked up you saw Eddie open the door and after giving you a last look, close it behind him.

“No!” you screamed after him. Your feet guided you to the door which no matter how hard you pulled and pushed, could not open. He must have blocked it somehow, you thought “Eddie!” you banged on the door as you heard the shrieks slowly disappear from around you.

“Y/n, what’s happening?” Dustin called out for you, desperately trying to understand what was going on.

“Stay there! I’ll go after him!” you said and gathered your weapon again.

“No! I’m coming with you!” he said and started climbing the rope again but you couldn’t let him.

“No.” you said sternly and cut the rope which caused it to fall on both sides, your brother’s body hitting the mattress. You could see his red eyes as he looked up at you through the hole. Your heart could not bear the sight “Stay here.”

“No!” he kept on screaming for you to stop, cried as he saw you pull the mattress away from the gate on your side. For once in his life, Dustin didn’t know what to do. He only knew that he couldn’t bear to lose his sister and one of his best friends at the same time.

With the door blocked you had to find another way out. You decided to break some of the wood you had nailed on the windows and, after a bit, managed to break enough of a hole to climb through it.

The moment your feet hit the ground you looked up and saw a dark cloud in the sky. The bats were following something, or better, someone. Eddie was driving them away.

You looked around you and spotted what was blocking the door. Eddie had nailed the shield on it. You pulled it out, yanking the door open in the process, and placed it on your back. You grabbed one of the other bikes you had priorly left there and began cycling over to where Eddie was. Only when the cold air of the Upside Down hit you did you realize that tears had fallen from your eyes. You quickly dried them off with your palm and pushed your entire body to bike faster.

This wasn’t supposed to go like this. Eddie was supposed to listen to you and let you do this for the both of them. For all of them. Why did he have to do this?

After following after them for a bit you saw the bats had begun doing circles around something. Eddie must have stopped.

When you finally arrived you saw that the sight before you was not pretty. Eddie was standing in the middle as the bats flew around him. He was trying his best to scare them and fight them away. You let the bike drop to the ground and took out your own weapons. You tried desperately to break through the wall of bats but it was too hard to fight them. Each time you killed one another two appeared making it impossible to go over to Eddie and help him.

Suddenly you heard a cry and almost lost your bearings when you saw him on the ground, bats holding him down, just like they had done with Steve. You tried to run to him but something pulled your leg, bringing you down as well. The bats were all over you, scratching your body with their nasty sharp nails, their teeth finding their way to your hair, clothes, and face, but you had decided you wouldn’t make it easy for them. You kept your spear in the air, tearing wings and arms off of them with each swing. But they were too strong and too fast. They knocked the shield out of your hand. You feared you were not quick or strong enough to continue. Your breaths were becoming shorter as terror settled in. At least, you thought, you had bought some time for the others. You and Eddie achieved your original goal. Those were your thoughts while your hands were covering your face, hiding yourself from the horrors of the Upside Down.

Small cries and yells fell out of your lips every time the monsters would mark you. A sharp nail landed on your left cheek, the pain and shock taking over your entire body. You didn’t know how much longer you were able to hold on to when suddenly they stopped. Stilled in the air and fell on the ground like machines that had a switch-off button.

Before you could decipher what had happened, a pair of hands shook your shoulders and Dustin’s face was in front of you “Y/n? Are you okay? Y/n?”

Your brother’s face was a blessing and a curse to see at this moment. You were glad to see him okay, unharmed by the creatures, but the look of terror in his eyes was enough to fill your body with rage, willing to burn this place down just for him.

“Dustin? What are you- I told you to stay back!” you yelled at him even if your arms were already hugging him.

“I couldn’t.” he answered but a cough from behind you took your attention.

“Eddie.” you whispered in realization and hurried over to him, your brother following after you, limping all the way.

“Oh, God. Eddie.” he finally said when he fell down opposite of you, his hands taking his friend’s quickly.

“Bad, huh?” Eddie joked but you were in no mood to laugh even pitifully at his attempt to make you feel better.

It scared you seeing him like this. Even when you were in high school Eddie was someone you thought indestructible. You had judged him from his behavior and part-time ‘job’, familiar with the small bags he was trafficking behind the school. He had scared you, worried you when you found out Dustin was hanging out with him but now… Now you’re scared for him.

The blood on his face scared you. The wounds he had all over his body scared you, and the way his eyes were glassy fucking terrified you.

“No, no, no. You’re gonna be okay. You just need to go to a hospital, okay?” Dustin answered franticly, his hand landing on his back to lift him up. You fall into action quickly, trying your best not to hurt him even more. Your attempts were unsuccessful as he groaned and let his body fall into Dustin’s arms.

“ I think I just… I think I just need a second, okay?” Dustin nodded his head at Eddie’s words.

Your hand moved without thinking as you brushed some of Eddie’s hair away from his face “Why didn’t you listen to me?”

“Because you’re more important.” he answered without missing a beat, making your heart clench in your chest.

“Eddie...”

“I couldn’t run away this time. I didn’t, right?” his eyes were pleading with yours to answer him.

“You didn’t run.” you shook your head, trying not to let the tears fall down your cheeks.

“You were a hero.” Dustin whispered, voice breathless and you longed to stop everything to help him. But wasn’t that what Eddie had achieved? What you wanted to do?

It was only now that you realized how wrong you were to even come up with that plan… If you hadn’t, maybe now Eddie would be back in the trailer, waiting for the others to do their job. Or maybe, the bats would have gotten to all three of you. They certainly would have managed to bring the same fate to you if they hadn’t magically stopped on their own. Maybe…

“Thanks.” despite his pain, a grateful smile graced him “Promise me what you asked of me. Only you can succeed in it.” his eyes fell back to you and you shook your head. He knew the only important thing between you two was to keep Dustin unharmed. It warmed your heart to see him so cared for, your little brother finding new people to trust, and help him, to love him for who he truly is. For the longest time, before you came to Hawkins, it truly felt like it was just the two of you against the world. But, now, it wasn’t just you, and even if sometimes it could feel a little bittersweet, it made you happy to see him, and yourself, finding others who can make your lives better.

Eddie was a true friend, and you would owe him your life and Dustin’s forever.

“I think you just proved your words wrong, Eddie.” your hand tightened around his to reassure him. His smile was weak but certainly there as you whispered back your promise “I will.”

He nodded and turned to Dustin “You’re gonna have to look after those little sheep for me, okay?”

“No, you’re gonna do that yourself.” Dustin was so emotional he could barely argue as the sobs came and developed him, his voice raised, fear controlling him. At the sound of his crying, all you could bear to do was close your eyes tight, your breath caught in your throat as cries started falling from your own lips.

“Nah, man… Say, ‘I’m gonna look after them’. Say it.” Eddie begged and only then did Dustin agree.

“I’m- I’m gonna look after ‘em…” his voice was small, exactly like he felt right now. Watching his friend die in his arms when moments before he thought he was going to lose both of you…

“Good. Cause I’m actually gonna graduate. I think it’s my year, Hendersons. I think it’s finally my year.” he smiled as if he was fine, but you could see his glassy eyes become more and more prominent “I love you man.” a few tears fell from his eyes and you are quick to catch them, caressing his cheek in a comforting way.

“I love you too.” Dustin responds when his friend begins choking “Eddie? Come on!” he called out for him, to bring him back, away from the pain and darkness “Eddie!”

But it was only a few seconds before Eddie’s body stilled and you finally let your own chokes out. Dustin was screaming out his name as he shook him. You took hold of his hands, the three of you hugging, saying your goodbyes silently.

If you want to be tagged just ask!

Dustin was the one to wake you up in the morning. At first, you couldn’t concentrate, your tiredness easily pulling you back to sleep, but that only lasted for a moment. When the memories of yesterday came back, you couldn’t go back to sleep. You got up and went to check on Nancy. She was already up, sitting on the bed waiting. When you walked in, she looked you in the eye and you knew this was going to be a difficult conversation.

“He showed me things that haven’t happened yet. The most awful things. I saw… a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this… this giant creature with… a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn’t alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then… He showed me my mom. And Holly. Mike. And they… They were all-” Nancy’s emotions left her unable to continue.

You were standing near Dustin, listening carefully to her words as she explained to you what had happened yesterday with Vecna. But reliving it wasn’t easy, you knew that all too well.

“Okay, but… he’s just trying to scare you, Nancy. Right? I mean… I mean, it’s not real.” Steve tried to comfort her, but it didn’t work.

“Not yet. But there- there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie’s trailer, but they didn’t stop growing. And this wasn’t the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home.”

“Four chimes. Vecna’s clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly.” Max said and Nancy nodded at her words.

“I heard them too.”

“He’s been telling us his plan this whole time.” Max came to the realization, making you all fill with fear.

“Four kills. Four gates. End of the world.” Lucas thought out loud before you heard your brother speak from beside you.

“If that’s true… he’s only one kill away.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ.” Eddie said, his tone scared, perfectly capturing how you were all feeling right now.

“Try ‘em again. Try ‘em again.” Steve signaled Max to punch in Joyce’s number again. You have no idea how many times you have tried to contact them. All you knew is that each time there was no answer, just like now.

“Anything?” you asked and bit your lip when you saw Max shake her head.

“No. Rang a few times, then went to busy signal.”

“Maybe you punched it in wrong. Try again.” Steve told her, but she immediately argued back.

“I didn’t punch it in wrong.”

“Well, I don’t know.” Steve looked desperate, but Max turned around, calling the number again just to show him she had done it right.

“Dude, I think she knows how to use a phone.” Dustin commented and Steve rolled his eyes.

“I’m just saying, she could’ve typed it in wrong.”

“Same shit.” Max hangs up the phone and you let out a sigh.

“How is that possible?” Lucas asks you all.

“I told you; Joyce has this telemarketer job. She’s always on the phone. Mike won’t stop whining about it.” you shake your head at Dustin’s words.

“No. Nuh-uh. No way. Not being able to reach them for three days is not mathematically possible. We’ve tried every single hour of the day. This isn’t Joyce, it’s something else.”

“She’s right. It can’t be just a coincidence. It can’t be.” Nancy agreed with you, getting up from her seat and walking to the window behind her “Whatever’s happening in Lenora is connected to all of this. I’m sure of it. But Vecna can’t hurt them. Not if he’s dead.” she turns back to you, a determined look in her eye “We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down.”

At the sound of her words, Eddie and Steve began arguing back, not liking the idea of going back there. You stood off the chaos, your brain trying to find another solution. Even though you feared there was no other way.

“Let’s think this through, okay?” Steve was now standing up, looking at Nancy who got irritated at his suggestion.

“What is there to think through?”

“We barely made it out of there in one piece.” Steve said.

“Yeah, because we weren’t prepared. But this time, we will be. We’ll get weapons and protection. We’ll go through the gate, we’ll find his lair, and we’ll kill him.” Nancy replied, but Steve wasn’t backing down.

“Or he’ll kill us. The only reason that you survived is because he wanted you to. He’s not scared of us.” he finished and Robin jumped up from her seat on the floor and into the conversation.

“And for good reason. We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now?” she received different answers from all of you “Right. We’ve learned something new about Vecna/Henry/One. He’s a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, made, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin. But- but- but- My point is, he’s super powerful. He could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It’s not a fair fight.”

“So then why fight fair? You’re right, he’s like Eleven. But that gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven’s strengths. And weaknesses.”

“Weaknesses?” Erica questioned Dustin’s words.

“When El remote-travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna.” he explained and Lucas chimed in.

“That could explain what he was doing in that attic.”

“Exactly. When he attacks his next victim, I’ll bet you he’s back in that attic, physical body defenseless.”

“Defenseless? Yeah? What about the army of bats?” Steve argued, pointing at the scar on his neck. Even though you hated how hurt he got, you couldn’t agree with him on this.

“We’ll fight them off.” you finally spoke up, eyes all on you “Distract them, somehow. Gain their attention so we can slip through to Vecna.”

“And, uh, how do we do that, exactly?” Eddie tried to get up from the couch he was sitting on but immediately sat back down when he heard your not-so-helpful explanation.

“I don’t know. But once they’re gone, we have our chance.”

“It’ll be like slaying sleeping Dracula in his coffin.” Dustin said after you.

“You think this is a good idea?” Steve asked you and you shrugged your shoulders.

“I think this is our only idea.”

“That all sounds good in theory, but there is no pattern to Vecna’s killings. I mean, at least on one that I can decipher. We don’t know when he’s going to attack next. We don’t even know who he’s going to attack.” Robin tells you, bringing up a good point.

“Yeah, we do.” you look up and stare at Max “I can still feel him. I’m still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me.”

“Max. You can’t. He’ll kill you.” Lucas tells her, eyes sad, not even bearing the thought of reality behind his words.

“I survived before. I can survive again. I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off. Stab him in the heart. Blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up. I honestly don’t care how you put this asshole in his grave. Just… whatever it is… whatever you do… try not to miss.” you felt the responsibility lay on your shoulders, and you made the silent promise to protect her and everyone in this room at all costs. No matter your outcome.

So, once again the planning began. First of all, you needed weapons. Loads of them. And Eddie knew just the place to get them.

“Check this out. The War Zone.” he sets down on the table the phone book and you lean over his shoulder to see what he is pointing at “I’ve been there once. It’s huge. They got everything you need for, uh… well, killing things, basically.”

“Do you think fake Rambo has enough guns there? Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?” Robin asked you and you shrugged your shoulders.

“Well, lucky for us it is, so… this- this place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of the main roads, we oughta be able to avoid cops and, uh, angry hicks.” Eddie said.

“If we’re trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn’t go to some store called the War Zone.” Erica raised a good point, making Dustin point at her.

“Normally, I’d agree, but we need the weapons. So… I think it’s worth the risk.”

“Me too.” Lucas agreed with Nancy.

“Yeah, but is it worth the time? It’ll take all day to bike there and back.” Dustin asked the group and Eddie answered back.

“Who said anything about bikes?” you looked at Eddie with confusion in your eyes.

“What, you got some car we don’t know about?” Steve asked with irony in his tone.

“It’s not exactly a car, Steve. It’s not exactly mine but, uh… it’ll do.” he said with a smirk on his lips before turning to Max “Hey, Red, uh, you got a ski mask or a bandanna, something like that?”

Max indeed had something he could use. She digs out of her room her old Halloween mask of Michael Myers and Eddie puts it on to hide his face from anyone who might accidentally spot you. You get out of the trailer and start following after Eddie. You end up at a van across the park, the couple living there were sitting right outside listening to the radio, so you carefully made your way to the other side without being seen.

Eddie opens the window and throws himself in. You shake your head as you walk to the window.

“I can’t believe we’re stealing a van.”

“Believe it.” Steve told you and helped you get inside before heading in himself. You land on top of the built-in couch, thankful that it wasn’t the hard floor.

“Y/n, help!” you hear Dustin whisper-yell at you, so you turn around and grab his hand pulling him inside with as much power as you had. After you made sure the rest were getting in without any trouble, you followed Eddie and Steve to the front, watching in shock as Eddie hot-wires the van.

“Where’d you learn how to do this?” Steve asks him.

“Well, when the other dads were teaching their kids how to fish or play ball, my old man was teaching me how to hot-wire. Now, I swore to myself I wouldn’t wind up like he did, but now I’m wanted for murder, and soon, grand theft auto. So, uh, you know, I’m really living up to that Munson name.” it was obvious he wasn’t very fond of his father, if not by his words then definitely by his tone, still you couldn’t help but be impressed by his quick technique.

“Impressive.” you tell him and feel a set of hands land on your shoulders. You turn your head and see Robin behind you.

“Uh, Eddie? I’m not sure I love the idea of you driving.”

“Oh, I’m just starting this sucker. Harrington’s got her. Don’t ya, big boy?” Eddie looks up at Steve with big smirk on his face, making Steve confused. Eddie however doesn’t pay attention to your faces, and finally starts the van, music interrupting the quiet immediately making you targets “Saddle up, Henderson.” Eddie tells you with the same smirk before you start hearing yelling from outside.

The couple had finally realized there were intruders in their van and began knocking on the windows to stop you. You do as Eddie told you and hurry to buckle yourself in the passenger’s seat while Steve motions for Eddie to get out of the driver's one so he can start the car.

“It’s just a car.” he tells himself, building up the courage to drive this thing before addressing the rest of the group “Everybody, hang on to something!”

“Steve!” you call out for him when you make the mistake of looking at the woman who was cursing you for stealing her van. The angry look on her face makes you anxious and full of guilt.

“Drive, Steve! Drive!” Dustin yelled and the car finally started going. It was a harsh start so you held on to everything that your hands could reach “Shit, they look pissed.” Dustin pointed out when he saw the owners from the back window.

“It’s not everyday you lose your house and car in one fell swoop.” Robin said.

“Hold on! Hold on!” Steve warns you and harshly turns the car, hitting some garbage cans in the process. He groans as he makes one final turn, exiting the trailer park and getting on the road, tires endlessly screeching.

You were an hour into the trip, silence overtaking the vehicle. You were looking around the road, staring at the trees passing by, when your eyes shifted over to Steve. He looked more relaxed behind the wheel now than he did when the journey first began.

“You doing okay?” you ask him and for a second he turns his head to look at you, before returning back forward to focus on the road.

“Not half bad… considering this is a house.” he jokes and you giggle. The sound of your laughter ignites a very precious thought he’s had for quite a while, only now feeling the courage he needed to share it. With everything that’s happening it’s better to tell you now than be too late “Yeah, it’s… it’s silly, but I- I’ve actually… I always had this dream that I’d have this really… really big family. I’m talking, like, a full brood of Harringtons. Like, five, six, kids.”

“Six kids?” you stare at him, mouth open in shock.

“Yeah. Six little nuggets. Three girls, three boys. And- and then every summer, I figured all of us Harringtons, we would pack into something like this and… just see the country. You know, the Rockies, Grand Canyon, maybe Yellowstone. End up in some beachside town in California. Spend a week parked in the sand. Learn how to surf or something.” a small fond smile appeared on your face as you listened to him, but you still weren’t able to let down the number.

“Well, that all sounds great, but I can’t carry six kids.”

“Who says I’m talking about you?” Steve asks humorously and you scoff at his teasing.

“Oh really? Okay, so then you better go find that someone, because I’m not doing it.”

“Come on, we did a great job with these ones.” he points to the back, obviously talking about the kids.

“This is different. They’re grown, not babies. I went through it with Dustin, trust me it is no easy job.”

“I don’t know. I feel like if you’re with the right person, it’s easy.” you couldn’t help but blush at his words. However, you also couldn’t control the laughter that came over you when you started analyzing your current situation “What?” he asks you confused over your reaction.

“I just can’t believe you’re telling me about starting a family together, but the idea of moving in together scares you.” you didn’t want to make him feel bad with your laughter. If you were being honest, you had gotten over that a long time ago. If he wasn’t ready for such a big step, you wouldn’t force it upon him. You loved him, and your relationship, and that was enough for you.

Steve, on the other hand, was biting his lip knowing he had to speak to you about the misunderstanding and explain to you what was actually going through his head at that moment “Y/n, about that, I-” your smile died down when you realized his voice was smaller than you had expected “When you asked me that, I didn’t hesitate because of you… I hesitated because of myself.”

“What do you mean?” your eyebrows scrunch.

“I need you to believe me that I do want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to move in with you, it’s just… I’m afraid I’m not enough for the world outside of Hawkins. Here… it’s secure. Here I have a job, a house, my friends. Out there I’m no one. I have no skills to show for myself, I’m- I’m useless.” your heart breaks at his words. You hadn’t realized this is what concerned him. If you knew you wouldn’t have reacted the way you did. God, you feel like an idiot. Especially when you easily see through him and understand where this was coming from.

“These aren’t your words, honey.” it wasn’t hard to decipher his words. You’ve had the ‘dad talk’ plenty of times, and it always starts with another one of his dad’s comments about Steve’s education and/or his job. There is one specific word he uses when he speaks with his son: useless. You hate that word so much; it sickens you to your core. Because Steve is anything but that.

“Is he wrong?” his voice breaks and your hand grabs his free one, desperately wanting to console him.

“Yes.” your voice is stern, and your eyes never move from the side of his face. He couldn’t bear to face you, because if he did even for a second the tears would spill out before he could stop them “Because he doesn’t know you. Not the way I do. We do.” you point to yourself, and the others at the back “You are smart, and strong, and capable of achieving anything you wish to. And I know that because I know how determined you are. Steve, you have risked your life so many times for us just because you wanted to. That night at the Byers’ house, you came back to help us even after we told you to leave, even after you were scared. You stayed. You faced your fear back then and you can do it again. And this time I will never leave your side. I love you, Steve. More than you know, and I want to help you chase your dream. Whatever it may be.”

His eyes finally met yours and he could see just how much you truly meant everything you just said. He doesn’t know what he wants to do, but right now he’s felt more sure than ever that if he’s with you, he can make it. He slips his fingers in between yours and brings your palm to his lips, a soft kiss landing on your skin.

“I love you too. Thank you.” you smile at him and stay with your hands connected for as long as you could.

When you arrived at War Zone you decided to split the group, so only you, Steve, Robin, Nancy, and Erica went inside. Your eyes scanned the huge store while trying to guess how many people were here.

“So much for avoiding angry hicks.” Robin commented.

“Let’s be… fast. Yep?” Nancy said, and you all agreed.

You went your separate ways, each of you having different tasks to complete. You were in charge of finding some clothes for all of you as you desperately needed to get out of your dirty, ripped ones. You scan the clothing aisle to find anything that could be useful and fighting an interdimensional demon appropriate. You found a brown jacket and showed it to Steve, who nodded his head in approval. It was an army jacket that you decided to pair up with a camo T-shirt and new pants. You also found a deep green jacket for yourself and a new black shirt, so you could remove your old one.

You both went to one of the dressing rooms and quickly changed to avoid all the weird stares you had been getting from the moment you got there. After you were done you gathered some more clothes for the rest and headed over to Robin who had a cart.

“How many of these do you think we need?” she asks you, holding up a bottle of gasoline, as you place the big pile of clothes in the cart.

“Five or six.” Steve responds and starts putting in more.

After you had sorted the clothes as much as you could in the cart, you looked up and realized that Robin’s attention was focused elsewhere than the matter at hand. You follow her gaze with curious eyes, eventually letting a smile grow on your face when you see who she is staring at. You lightly hit Steve’s shoulder, pointing towards Vicki and he immediately understood what was going on.

“What are you gonna do, Robin? Just stand here and gawk at her?” Steve teased her, but Robin was too distracted to come up with a good comeback.

“Shut up.”

“Go talk to her.” you gave her a little push. You bit your lip when you saw her take a step to go to Vicki, but everything got ruined in mere seconds. Your smile slowly faded when you saw a guy go over to Vicki, talk to her, and kiss her. It broke your heart, so you could only imagine how Robin was feeling.

Robin could not tear her gaze from the kiss in front of her, her entire stomach doing a flip when Vicki’s eyes fell on her.

“Oh, Robin-” you tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off and ran quickly away from you. Steve called after her, but it was already too late. You looked at Steve and told him to continue getting everything you needed. In the meantime, you were gonna be looking for Robin.

“That girl knows how to play hide and seek.” you murmured under your breath, your eyes scanning the store for any sign of your friend. You were looking for the past ten minutes and the only thing you found was insane prices for insane products.

Suddenly something hit you from behind startling you. You turned around, ready to confront the person who did it, when you realized it was just Erica who had hit you with her own cart.

“We need to go.” her tone was serious, making you immediately anxious.

“Why, what happened?”

“They happened.” she pointed behind you. You scrunched up your eyebrows at her behavior before turning around and seeing what made her act like this.

“Shit.” the whole basketball team, the one chasing Eddie and the kids were here doing the same thing you were. Gathering resources for their big hit.

After that, you all acted very quickly. You had to pay for what you had, find everyone who was missing, and leave the store without getting caught. As Steve was at the register with Max and Erica, you and Nancy were able to find Robin who was hiding in one of the dressing rooms. She didn’t waste any time when you told her what was happening and helped you carry the shopping bags to the car. Steve opened the door and one by one you all headed inside.

“What happened?” Lucas asked you all.

“We gotta go.” Steve said and, in a hurry, settled the bags he was holding down before climbing onto the driver’s seat. You quickly followed behind him.

“Your old friends are here.” Erica informed Lucas who cursed at the realization.

“Let’s go!” Dustin repeated at you, making Steve raise his voice as well.

“I’m going! I’m going! Just sit down!” he started the car and took off for Hawkins to continue your plan.

Your eyes roamed across the hill, landing on all the separate groups of your party. Lucas was with Erica preparing the spears, Max was watching Nancy fix up her gun, and your brother was making shields with Eddie. Well… they were actually goofing around but it looked like they did a good job on them. And it was nice seeing your brother aloof for even just a moment.

You were in charge of gearing up your clothes, making them as protected as you could for your and Dustin’s groups. After you had found a quiet place to relax, you began preparing your plan. Nancy divided you into three teams: The first team was Lucas, Erica, and Max who had the role of the bait to lure Vecna, the second team was Dustin, Robin, and Eddie who were going to distract the Demobats, and you were part of the third team with Steve, and Nancy who were going to kill Vecna.

You all agreed with the plan at first but right now something wasn’t sitting right with you. Watching Dustin out there laugh and have fun pulled on your heart. You’ve been over this road four times now and you’re worried something bad is going to happen. You didn’t want anyone to get hurt. However, as his big sister, Dustin was your priority.

You always made sure to be with him in moments like this, learning from your mistakes from 1983 when you left the party to go with Jonathan and Nancy to fight the Demogorgon. That same night you all lost Eleven. Dustin’s sad face for the next months was so clear in your mind, even now. After that moment you made a promise to yourself to always help him and protect him in big and small things.

Leaving him now in that group without you, just… felt wrong.

“We finished up with the bombs. How is everything going on here?” your head snapped to your right at the sound of your boyfriend’s voice. Despite your worry, his presence always pulled a small smile on your face.

“Great. I just finished up with Dustin’s uniform. And my own…” your final words were paired with a sigh, expecting the confusion that quickly covered his face.

“You’re sure this isn’t Robin’s? You’re supposed to be on our team, remember?” his hands inspected the clothes filled with gear that was meant to protect group 2 from the bats.

“About that… I think it’ll be better if I stay with Dustin.” you finally said.

“What?”

You stood up from your seat, your lips letting out a sigh as you took his hand into yours for both of your comfort “Steve… This is our fourth time doing this. Our luck is running out and I have to make sure that he’ll be okay. I hate leaving him alone and I know you can take care of yourself, and it kills me to leave you behind but… I have to be here. I need to protect him in any way that I can.” you were playing with his fingers by the time you finished talking, your eyes watching your hands move, only focusing back on his face when his left hand touched your cheek.

“Okay, I get that… It’s gonna be weird not having you with me during the fight for the first time, but I can deal with Robin, it’d be fine.” you smiled and leaned in to leave a peck on his cheek “Just be careful. I want a girlfriend to come back to at the end of this.”

He chuckled at the end, obviously making a joke, but you couldn’t help but feel bittersweet at his words. Because you wanted to come back to him and fight for all of your safety. However, you also knew that if a sacrifice was needed, you were willing to take it. For them.

“I will.”

If you want to be tagged just ask!

You’ve settled into two groups while you were walking. You, Robin, and Nancy were in the front, and Steve, and Eddie were in the back, though a few meters apart.

It was quiet at the beginning. Everyone was trying to calm down their nerves, always looking where you were stepping in fear of alerting the bats or Vecna of your whereabouts.

“Hey, Y/n?” your head turned to the left when you heard Nancy’s voice call you “You had a big hit, huh?” she pointed to your back looking at the scars that were more visible now that you had ripped off the torn pieces of your shirt.

“Oh, yeah, but they’re surface wounds, I can barely feel them.” that was a small lie. You could feel them with every step you took but you weren’t bleeding so you felt no need to alert anyone “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just… wondering.”

“About?” you questioned.

“What did you mean by Jonathan being scared?” she got straight to the point and you let out a sigh.

“Nancy, I really don’t think you want to hear this from me.”

“When did you speak with him?” her voice was strong, obviously in need to find out what her boyfriend was hiding, terrible scenarios already filling her head.

“A couple weeks back. Look. This is not my place to intrude, alright? You’re both my friends and I made a promise to him not to tell anyone.” she was ready to argue back but you were faster as you stopped walking a put your hands on her shoulders “But, I need you to put all your trust in me when I say that he loves you, and you have nothing to worry about.” her eyes were uncertain. However, the hug you shared right after told you everything you needed to know. I trust you. You smiled at one another once you pulled from her arms, just when Robin came rushing to you.

“Glad you’re having a moment, but you’re not leaving me alone to walk in these woods.” she grasped your arms and pulled you along.

Steve’s eyes followed your figures, glad to see you in good moods even after everything. Then his gaze falls to the only other guy in the group and he decides now is the best time to tell him everything he needed to. He calls out for him, Eddie slowing down to match his pace “Hey, man, uh… Listen, I just, uh… I just wanted to say thanks. For saving my ass back there.” he knew how scared and confused he must have been feeling because he was like that not three years ago. So, he wanted to make him feel welcome, as welcome you could feel while in a place like this.

“Shit. You saved your own ass, man. I mean, that was a real Ozzy move you pulled back there.” Eddie replied, raising a question inside Steve’s mind.

“Ozzy?”

“When you took a bite out of that bat… Ozzy Osbourne? Black Sabbath? He bit a bat’s head off onstage.” Eddie explained, quite shocked by the fact Steve didn’t know what he was talking about “It’s very metal, what you did. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Thanks.”

“Henderson told me you were a badass. Insisted on the matter, in fact.” now it was Steve’s turn to be shocked.

“Henderson said that?” he knew the kid loved him, just like he did. He didn’t wanna pick favorites, but Dustin hadn’t really given him a chance. With his toothy grin and crazy mind, it was hard not to love him. Not that he’d ever say that to his face, especially now that hormones were taking control over his body making him the snarkiest teenager he’s ever seen.

“Oh yeah. Shit. Kid worships you, dude. Like, you have no idea. It’s kinda annoying, to be honest.” Steve scoffs, even though he’s feeling himself fill with pride “I don’t even know why I care what that little shrimp thinks, but, uh, guess I got a little jealous, Steve. I guess I couldn’t accept the fact that Steve Harrington was actually a good dude. Rich parents, popular, chicks love him. Not a douche? No way man. No way.” Steve wanted to tell Eddie how wrong he was. Those weren’t the things that made him good. They were everything that he most despised in himself “That, like, flies in the face of all the laws in the universe and my own personal Munson doctrine. Still super jealous as hell, by the way.” he admitted his face coming close to Steve’s, making him a little uncomfortable, and not sure how to respond “Which is why I would never have jumped in that lake to save your ass. Not under any, uh… normal circumstances.”

The sound of a branch snapping and growling in the distance startled them for a moment before moving on.

“Nope. Outside of D&D, I am no hero. I see danger and I just turn heel and run. Or at least that’s what I’ve learned about myself this week.”

“Give yourself a break, man.”

“See?” Eddie pointed at the three of you ahead before stopping to look Steve in the eye “The only reason I came in here was ‘cause those ladies came in straight after you.” Steve let his gaze fall on the girls ahead, his eyes landing on your figure “Now, I was too ashamed to be the one who stayed behind. But Henderson, right there, she didn’t waste a second. Not one second. She just dove right in. You better hold on to her, because that was as unambiguous a sign of true love as these cynical eyes have ever seen.”

You weren’t sure what it was, but something told you to turn around. You continued walking but looked back finding Steve’s gaze already on you. His eyes were soft, full of love, bringing a smile to your face and making him return it when he realized you were looking at him. It was nice having a small moment to yourselves especially when the earth began shaking again.

“Okay, second on my least of least favorite things, earthquakes. Seriously, I’m unsteady enough as it is.” Robin joked, but her tone completely changed when Nancy took off, not waiting for the rumbling to stop “Nancy! Where are you going? Nancy!” you all went after her, finding her standing, looking out in the open. You follow her gaze and see a house up ahead, her house.

“Come on.” she said and began walking again.

You finally arrived at the house, the street bringing a familiar feeling inside you, almost a weird one. Nancy decided to go through the side door, the one from the garage as the staircase there was closer to her room. You’re in the back of the group, waiting your turn to walk into the house but before you could, something else catches your attention. Three bikes parked on your left, and at first glance, you wouldn’t think anything of it, but you quickly realized that you knew one of the bikes quite well. The black and white one with the used tires looked exactly like Dustin’s old one did. Last summer your mother had gifted Dustin a brand-new bike, a blue one. So, what was his childhood bike doing here?

Your eyes inspected the other two and you recognized them easily. Lucas and Will’s. This confused you even more. Will’s bikes weren’t even supposed to be in Hawkins anymore.

Your brain started doing spins, trying to understand why these were here and what they meant. Maybe, you thought, that weird feeling of time being still here, almost frozen, wasn’t just a feeling after all. From the moment you entered this street, you’ve been getting a constant feeling of Déjà vu. At first, you had decided to ignore it, because you figured it was just your tired brain, but now you realized it was yelling at you to remember. Remember that you have existed in this moment before, three years ago, when you picked up the kids from their campaign after work. The night Will got lost and this nightmare began.

You gasped at the realization, rushing inside to find the rest “Guys!” you yelled out as you got inside. The first person you saw was Steve, standing still in the living room “Steve! The bikes outside, I think they’re-”

“Dustin!” he screamed from the top of his lungs, sending you back a couple of steps in shock.

“Yeah, one of them is Dustin’s, but-” you tried explaining after a moment but he interrupted you once again.

“No, can you hear him? Dustin! Dustin! Can you hear me? Dustin!” you stare at him with big eyes and mouth open, not understanding what was going on “Du- Hello? Hel- hello?” you see the rest outside of the living room, rushing to get here after hearing Steve’s yelling.

“Maybe he really does have rabies.” Robin whispered, meaning it as a joke, but right now even the thought of that being true scared you.

“Hello! Hello!”

“Steve, what are you doing?” you asked him, desperate to understand why he was calling for your brother.

“Hello!” his flashlight points at your faces, making you squint by the harsh light “He’s here. Your brother. That little shit, he’s here. He’s like… He’s in the walls or something. Just listen. Listen.” he doesn’t even give you a moment to listen before he starts shouting his name, making you think he was crazy.

However, before you could grab his arm and stop him, try and calm him down, you heard it. A soft mumble resembling your brother’s voice. You turn to look at the rest who had heard it as well, and you all started calling Dustin’s name.

“All right, either this kid can’t hear us or he’s being a total douchebag. Sorry.” Steve said the last part to you, but you shook it off.

“If he doesn’t answer, he really is.”

“Will found a way.”

“What?” you asked when you heard Nancy speak.

“Will. He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights.” you watch her move to one of the lamps, trying to turn it on. Steve goes with her and points to the light switch on the wall, telling her to give that a try. He turns around to check if it lights up, but something else intrigues his interest.

“Guys?” he points his flashlight at the ceiling light “You seeing this?”

Your eyes look up and see it not lit up with actual light, but a small glow covers the entire thing, the mumbling becoming stronger. You go under it, Nancy on your left and you all watch her as she raises her hand, making the glow lit up as if you’ve thrown glitter at it.

“It’s like fairy dust.” you said and let your own hand play with it.

“It… tickles.” Steve commented, followed by Robin’s take on it.

“It… kinda feels good.”

“Does anyone know Morse code?” Nancy suddenly asked, pulling you out from your trance.

“I do.” you say, when the rest responded negatively.

“You’re definitely Henderson’s sister.” Eddie comments, making you smile.

“Thanks. He and I learned it so we could speak through the walls when our mom grounded us. The tapping sound drove her nuts.” you positioned yourself better under the light and brought your hand up. You start ‘tapping’ the glow to let the message get through to the other side.

“What are you saying?” Robin asked you.

“We always started our conversation by tapping the word ‘H E R E’. It showed the other person that we were ready and wanted to talk.”

You hoped Dustin would remember. After you had grown up, those secret, descriptive conversations stopped, both you and him had other stuff to deal with. Right now you missed those small moments. You feared you two had grown too much too fast. After everything that had happened with the Upside Down, you only had one goal, to get out of Hawkins. But it only occurred to you after you left, what and who you were actually leaving behind. Those moments with your brother were gone. When you get out of this alive, you make a promise to yourself to have a conversation with him and try to find stuff you can do together when you’re away, communicate through the big wall separating Michigan and Hawkins. Just like when you were kids.

On the other side, Erica has noticed the lights flickering and tells Dustin that Vecna is here. This alerts the boys and they get up, staring at the light. Lucas is scared, not understanding what was going on, but Dustin, he recognizes the rhythm. It’s a pattern he’s known ever since he was seven and you were twelve.

“H… E… R… E…” he reads the code “Hey, uh… Remember when I said they wouldn’t be stupid enough to go through Watergate?”

“Yeah?” Lucas answers.

“I overestimated them.” Dustin said and turned to look back at the light asking “Y/n? Is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” you giggled and tapped ‘Y E S’ so he could read it.

“Can you hear us?” you repeated the answered and you hear him chuckle “Holy shit. Okay, uh… Go upstairs. Go to Nancy’s room. We’ll meet you there.” you do as he said. You walk up to Nancy’s room and wait for them to arrive. You can hear them moving around, their voices a big mumble before the same glow as before appears on top of Nancy’s bed.

“Okay, you guys seeing this?” Nancy lets her hand move freely through the shiny dust, the light becoming brighter. Dustin’s laugh was so clear it almost brought tears to your eyes “Uh, we’re not moving it, but we’re gonna unplug it. Stand by. Yank it.” the glow disappears “Okay try it now.” your brother instructs and Nancy writes the word ‘HI’ with her finger.

You wait silently waiting to see if their plan would work. You were using Holly’s game that let you use light to draw out pictures. Dustin believed it would be a good way to communicate without using code.

“That worked!” he announced making you all cheer. You hug Steve out of excitement while you can hear the rest laugh and scream enthusiastically.

“Okay, um…” after calming down, Nancy focuses again and starts writing on the glow. You watch the letters go by one by one, while hearing the kids try and understand what you were writing.

“S… T… U… Stupid? Stupid?” Dustin suggested, being a little too familiar with the word, but they quickly saw you were spelling out “Stuck!”

You nodded your head at their words.

“Okay, okay. They’re stuck in the Upside Down.” Lucas said.

“Okay. Uh, you can’t get back through Watergate?” Dustin asked you, making your brows scrunch in thought.

“What the hell’s Watergate?” Steve asked and you connected the dots right after, your eyes rolling.

“Cause it’s in water and it’s a gate.” Robin explained for you and the rest ‘oh’ed in realization.

“This kid and his nicknames.” you shake your head with a small smile on your lips.

“That’s cute.” Eddie commented.

“Um, no. It’s…” Nancy thought out loud before drawing out your answer.

“G… U… A… R… D… E… D…”

“Okay. Uh, Watergate’s guarded.” Dustin said.

“Perfect. Yes. Yes. Yes.” Steve said and you sighed in relief at how well this was going.

“Okay, we think we have a theory that can help with that.”

You smiled at that “Of course.”

“Genius child.” Robin said under her breath.

“We think Watergate isn’t the only gate. That there’s a gate at every murder site.” you listened carefully at his words.

“Does anybody understand what he’s talking about?” you all said no, so Nancy drew a question mark on the glow.

“Okay, seriously? How many times do I have to be right on the money before you guys just trust me?” you shook your head at your brother’s annoyed echo.

“Jesus Christ. This kid’s gotta get his ego in check.” Steve said and Eddie agreed completely.

“It’s his tone. Right?”

“I know.” Steve nodded, but you stepped in getting you back in track.

“Okay, so, I bet he’s right, because somehow he always is, if there’s a gate in every murder site…”

“How far is you trailer?” Nancy caught on your thought and asked Eddie.

“Seven miles.”

“Nancy?” Robin brought all your attentions to her “I- I know your house here is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven’t you always had bikes?”

“Not enough. In ’83 we only had mine and Mike’s bikes. Holly was too young and my parents too… busy.” she said with a shrug.

“This is the day Will disappeared. The kids were here all-day playing D&D.” you stepped in “I saw their bikes outside. That’s how I realized we are in the past. We have bikes, just small sized ones.”

“They’ll have to do.” Steve said and you stood up after informing the kids you’ll be heading at Eddie’s.

“We’ll meet you there!” you heard Dustin yell and you smiled, exiting the room and heading outside.

You grabbed your brother’s bike and started riding it towards Eddie’s trailer with the rest following.

On your way there, you were able to catch a glimpse at the house Vecna used for his attacks. It was filled with the bats that had attacked you. You remembered their claws on your back. You gulped and rode faster, wanting to leave this place as fast as possible. It didn’t take long after that to arrive at your destination.

“It’s right here.” Eddie pointed out and you got off the bike, setting it on the ground.

“That’s gotta be a Guinness World Record. Most miles traveled interdimensionally.” Robin said and you heard Steve cough.

“Just inhaled a bunch of that crap.” he coughs again, taking the flashlight out of his back pocket “It’s stuck in my throat.” you bring a hand to his back, patting it softly as you headed inside the trailer.

The moment you get inside you decide to never underestimate your brother again. The gate was right there, just like he had said.

“Goddamn.” Steve said in shock.

The gate was just like the one at Lover’s Lake. Small with a red layer separating your world with the Upside Down. It illuminated a red glow, lighting the trailer.

“This is where Chrissy died. Like, right where she died.” Eddie informed you.

“I think there’s something in there.” Robin told you and you were all able to see what she was talking about. Something was trying to break the barrier of the gate.

“What the hell is that?” Eddie asked, and you stayed silent to see what was going to happen.

Suddenly, the layer broke, making you jump in surprise, your yelps filling the room. Substances from the gate were falling to the floor as the stick that was sticking out was clearing the gate’s hole. The moment any kind of movement stopped, you decided it was time to investigate and see what had caused this. You moved forward, behind Steve who was leading the group. When you were able to have a clear view through the gate, your whole face lit up in a smile.

“No way.” Steve said from beside you, looking up at the kids, now including Erica, who was also staring at you. The weirdest thing however was the fact that you were looking at them upside down.

Dustin chuckled when he saw you and waved “Hi there.”

“Hey, Dusty.” you and the others waved back.

“Holy shit, this is trippy.” Robin said and Dustin laughed even more.

“Bada-bada-boom!”

After you had calmed down, it was pretty easy to form a plan for your way out. You decided on making a rope by Eddie’s tied sheets and place his mattress on your world’s floor, so you wouldn’t hurt yourself as you climbed up and down. Max and Lucas place the beg mattress under the hole and you stare at it.

“Those stains are, uh… I don’t know what those stains are.” he turns his head upward, ignoring your gazes with an embarrassed look on his face.

Your eyes fall on Dustin who had just stepped on said mattress showing you his work on the rope “Not quite sure how these physics are gonna work. But uh… here goes nothing.” he throws the rope in the air and you watch it in awe as it stands still between the two dimensions “There we go. And if my theory is correct…” he lets go of the rope and it stays in the air “Abracadabra.” you let out a chuckle at the sight.

“Holy shit.” Max says and Dustin addresses you.

“All right, pull on it! See if it holds!” he instructed and you held out your hand, pulling on the rope. You let out a surprised laugh when you see it not bulging. Robin also comes forward, pulling the rope with her entire weight. Nothing happens, the rope stays perfectly still.

“This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’ve seen some crazy shit.” Erica told you and she high-fives your brother.

One by one you climb up the rope. First was Robin, then Eddie, and then you. You pull on the tried sheets and the moment you cross dimensions you can feel the gravity pulling you to the ground. You land on the mattress letting out a huff, the force making you feel the bruises on your back. You feel two arms pulling you up and you open your eyes to see Dustin above you.

“Welcome.” he sent you a smile and the moment you got up, you engulfed him in a big hug.

“You’re okay.” you whispered into his ear.

Dustin was shocked for just a second before returning the hug with just as much force as you “You too.”

You didn’t know what it was, maybe the universe hated giving you moments to relax, but before you could stop the embrace on your own, you heard Steve’s voice yelling.

“Nancy? Stay with me. Nancy! Hey! Nancy, wake up!” you look through the gate to see Nancy frozen, while Steve was shaking her shoulders.

“Vecna.” Max said and you felt your heart pummel to your stomach in dread.

“What do we do?” you asked the rest, and you quickly began looking around for something that could help Nancy. Music was your number one solution for this kind of situation so you headed to Eddie’s room, searching for music that Nancy could like.

“Steve says you need to hurry!” Erica informs you.

“Yeah? No shit!” Dustin yells.

“We’re trying. We can’t find anything.” Max was searching with Dustin and Lucas on one pile, while you focused on another across the room, but wasn’t at all successful.

“Eddie, do you have anything?” you said in exaggeration.

“I mean, what are you even looking for?”

“Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music! We need music!” Robin held up some of the tapes you had littered across the room.

“This is music!” Eddie said annoyed at her words as he holds up one of the tapes she had on her hands.

“It’s not good enough right now!” you yelled back.

Luckily, before you could waste more time, Nancy was able to wake up on her own. Steve helped her get through the gate and you guided her gently on one of the chairs in Eddie’s trailer. She looked exhausted and before you could ask her anything, her body went limp against yours, fainting. You looked around the room, searching for some kind of answers as to what you should do next. Max sprung into action and told you, you could stay at her trailer. She said her mother would either be too drunk to care or at work. Turns out it was the latter, making the situation much easier for you.

Steve took Nancy into his arms, and you settled her in Max’s bed to regain her strength. The rest of you decided to also relax and have someone stay on watch for an hour each time. Steve offered himself to be the first one to start the shifts and then it would be your turn. Max handed out some blankets and pillows you could use. She also said it would be okay to sleep on her mom’s bed, so you told the kids to go lay there. Robin took the couch, Eddie situated himself on the floor and you were curled up in the armchair.

You closed your eyes, fighting to get the images out of your mind and get some sleep, but you failed to win. After half an hour you got tired of pretending to be asleep. You opened your eyes and let them roam around the room. You looked at Robin sleeping, her body in a position that only she knew how to sleep in. Then you looked at Eddie, sleeping on his back on the floor. His eyes were moving behind his lids, and you hoped he wasn’t seeing nightmares.

Lastly, you let your gaze fall on Steve. He was sitting on the small table in the kitchen, his head turned to look outside the window.

Steve’s peripheral vision saw something move, and his senses heightened. However, he relaxed when he realized it was you. His eyes followed your body as you made your way to the chair next to him. You made yourself comfortable and placed your hand on top of his on the table, caressing it. He felt butterflies in his stomach that only increased when he looked you in the eye.

“You’re supposed to be sleeping.”

“You know I can’t sleep without you.” you said sweetly but he didn’t seem to believe you at all “Well, I can’t sleep in general right now, but let’s focus on the first reason.” you chuckled together.

Steve wanted for you to relax and get some sleep, but having you here felt great. You were the only one who could make him forget even for just a moment what had happened today “This day was crazy.”

“Yeah… I never thought we’d ever fight our way through the Upside Down and survive.” your eyes wandered to Steve’s torso, your bloody shirt your main focus “How’s your side?”

Steve looked down and touched the place where the bat had bit him, scoffing “It’s not bleeding anymore, so I guess that counts for something. What about your back?”

“Oh, I’m fine.” one of his eyebrows shot up, clearly not believing you “Really. Just a little sad about the shirt. I really liked it.” he quietly laughed at your ‘sad’ face, bringing both of his hands now on top of the table and taking yours in.

“I love you.” his voice was now a whisper, making you soft.

“I love you too, Steve.”

“Thank you for coming after me. Thank you for saving me and taking care of me.” this caught you off guard, not expecting this type of kindness.

“You’d do the same for me. You don’t have to thank me.” you told him, shaking your head.

“I don’t have to, but I want to.” you smiled at his words and you immediately returned the gesture.

“Thank you for fighting for us. Thank you for protecting us and the kids. Thank you for being here with me.” he smiled and leaned forward. He grabbed the side of your face with one hand, bringing your lips to his for a soft kiss. It may not have lasted long, but it was perfect.

“I just hope what we’re doing is enough this time.” he confessed to you after the kiss, his hands now playing with your fingers. You could see the worry in his eyes. It must have been scary for him to see Nancy like that in front of him, shaking her awake and yelling at her but getting nothing in return. Not knowing if he could keep someone safe isn’t easy for Steve.

You brought your hand on his cheek and guided his eyes to look into your own “We’re surviving this together, Steve. You told me that.” you recalled the first promise he had ever made you, one of the only things that could bring strength to you even in moments like these.

“We will.” he agreed and stayed with you until your turn to watch them ended. You woke Eddie up and Steve took his place on the floor. You returned to your original sleeping place, finally able to get some sleep, feeling safe with Steve next to you.

If you want to be tagged just ask!

“Yeah, that’s not creepy.” Steve said as he looked up at the house before you.

After waking everyone up, you took Nancy’s car and headed over to the house you had seen in one of the many newspapers you had read when searching for information about Vecna.

“What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?” Steve asked you as the two of you made your way to the nailed-down front door.

“We’re not sure. We just know this house is important to Vecna.” you explained him, your palm settling over one of the wooden plates on the door.

“Because Max saw it in Vecna’s red soup mind world?”

“Basically.” you answered your boyfriends, who nodded his head.

“Great.”

“Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is. Why he’s back. Why he killed the Creels. And how to stop him before he comes back for Max.” Dustin tried to keep the mood positive.

“We don’t think he’s in here, do we?” Lucas’ voice sounded, his eyes searching for some confirmation from all of you that nothing bad would happen here.

“Guess we’ll find out.” Max simply said, making all of you turn back to the front door.

“Ready?” you nodded at Steve and started removing the nails from the wood with the hammers in your hand. After clearing the door from the plates, Steve’s hand falls to the doorknob. He tries his best to open it but to no avail.

“It’s locked. Should I knock, see if anybody’s home?” he makes a weak attempt at a joke, earning a slight chuckle only from you.

“No need. I found a key.” Robin said while holding a big brick in her hand. As your eyes shot open, you took Steve’s hand in yours and left the porch to give Robin the clear.

The brick easily broke the stained window giving Steve the chance to open the door from the inside. He was the first one to enter the house, you second and the rest following behind, each of your eyes roaming around the abandoned house.

“Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill.” Lucas joked after his failed attempt to open a lamp.

You felt Dustin stand next to you handing you one of the flashlights he had in his bag. You both light them up, Steve’s eyes landing on you two.

“Where’d everyone get those?” he questioned.

“Do you need to be told everything? You’re not a child.” Dustin’s tone got too rude for your liking.

“You both are. Here.” you searched Dustin’s backpack and handed Steve one of the remaining flashlights. You had no idea how he fit everything in there.

“Thank you.” he said to you with a smile, when Max called out for you.

“Hey guys? You all see that, right?” he flashlight was pointing at the old grandfather clock.

“Yeah.” you told her.

“Is this what you saw? In your visions?” Nancy asked.

“I mean, it’s just a clock, right?” Robin wipes some of the dust covering the glass of the clock “Like a normal old clock.”

“Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks? Maybe he’s, like, a clockmaker or something?” you bit your lip as you listened to Steve try and figure out what was happening. On the other hand, Dustin couldn’t help his sharp tongue.

“Think you cracked the case, Steve.”

“Can you dial down the sarcasm?” you asked your brother who took a defensive stance.

“He’s starting it.” he pointed at Steve, who looked offended.

“How?”

“All I know is…” Nancy spoke up, ending your conversation “The answers are here. Somewhere. Okay, everyone stay in groups. Robin, upstairs.” the two girls disappeared upstairs. Next, Max and Lucas left to explore the floor you were on, leaving you with your brother and boyfriend.

“Come on, boys. Together once again.” you motioned for them to follow you up the stairs.

Behind you, Dustin smiled up at Steve, making the taller boy sigh and go after you. The action left Dustin offended.

“Was that a sigh?”

“No, I did not sigh.” Steve defended himself, but Dustin wasn’t buying it.

“Why did you sigh?”

“I didn’t sigh. Just come on, dude.”

“I heard you.”

“W-we’re just always partners, okay?”

“You don’t like being in the same group?” you asked him, joining on their bickering.

“No, no, not with you. With him.”

“I heard that too.” Dustin whined.

“Good for you.”

“What? Am I boring you? Is that it?”

“Exactly- No, the opposite.”

“If you don’t shut up, I’m forming my own group.” you told them, finally getting them to stop and follow you.

You ended up in a big, dusty room, looking around for anything that could help you. The three of you remained silent until Steve’s voice echoed through the room.

“Hey, uh, Hendersons?”

“Yeah?” you and Dustin answered.

“Could you maybe, uh… clarify what sort of clues we’re supposed to be looking for here?”

“ ‘The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes’.” Dustin said in a British accent, not really helping Steve at all “Sherlock Holmes.” you just stood still, observing their interaction.

“That’s great. Thanks, that’s great, really helpful. Sherlock…” Steve scoffed and walked towards you “You were right. He is entering his teenage years. Strongly.” you made an ‘I told you’ face.

“Just look for anything that stands out. Anything that says Upside Downey.”

“Yeah, I- I can do that.” he nodded at your words, walking away to explore another part of the house.

After a few minutes, you realized that Steve was no longer in your eyesight, so you decided to go look for him. You were making your way down a hallway when a startled Steve appeared before you, quickly closing the door he had walked out from

“Don’t go in there. Spiders, too many, many spiders.” he pointed at the room, the scared expression on his face making you giggle.

“Steve, what happened?”

“Don’t laugh at me. Take it out. Take it out.” he lowered his head to you so you could remove the spiderwebs that were stuck in his hair.

“I’m not laughing at you. Come on, sit still so I can take it out.” you held his head and began taking out the webs carefully.

“If there’s a spider nesting in there, you’re never gonna find it till it lays eggs and the babies spill out.” Robin joked, when she and Nancy walked next to you as they headed over the other side of the hallway.

“What’s wrong with you?” Steve told her, making Robin chuckle before walking away “Robin, seriously. She’s got problems.” he said to you under his breath.

“Yeah, but we love her.” you had a small smile on your face, for just a moment forgetting where you were as you picked out the remaining webs in hair.

“Strong words.” he waited a second before agreeing with you, acting reluctant “But you’re not wrong.”

“There, done.” you told him and wiped your hands, removing all the stickiness, not entirely sure if it was from the spiderwebs or his gel.

“Hey.” his voice was soft, almost a whisper, but it pulled you in easily. Your eyes stared into his “How you feeling?”

“I mean, this place gives me endless goosebumps, but I guess I’m alright-” you joked, wanting to add a little light to the situation.

“No, I mean… in general. Are you okay?” the look in his eyes told you this wasn’t just about the fact that you were breaking and entering a house, searching for clues that could lead you to an interdimensional demon, but about everything that could be burdening your heart.

“Are you?” you asked back, making Steve nod his head. You wanted so badly to sit down and understand what had led him to say no to your idea, but now wasn’t the time, which made it so much worse, because there were times when you weren’t sure if you could be as touchy as you usually are, feeling the small tension between you.

“Yeah, I get your point.” you felt his hand hold your own, his fingers caressing the back of your palm softly. He had lowered his head to look at your intertwined hands. When his eyes returned to look into yours, it felt intense. His gaze fell to your lips, your breath catching in your throat “Can I?”

You found it sweet that he was asking you for permission, even though you could never tell him no, no matter what had happened between the two of you. But just like you felt awkward at times, he did too. He didn’t want to step over the boundaries you have built for yourself, give you yet another reason to yell at him when this is all over and you can face reality. It was weird pausing the state of your relationship to figure out how to stop the Upside Down once again, but you had to if you actually wanted to have a relationship to turn to at the end of this, with both of you alive.

So, you softly nodded your head, closed your eyes, and leaned in, waiting for his lips to land on yours, but a loud voice interrupted you. It was Max.

Steve groaned just inches away from your face, and you giggled at his impatience.

“Come on, duty awaits us.” you boldly pecked his lips, tugged his hand, and headed to where Max was standing next to Lucas. After a couple of seconds, Nancy, Robin, and Dustin appeared as well. She pointed towards the chandelier before you, saying that she saw the lights flickering. You stood there, silent, waiting for it to happen.

“It’s like the Christmas lights.” Nancy said in thought when the chandelier flickered.

“The Christmas lights?” Robin’s eyebrows scrunched.

“When Will was in the Upside Down, Joyce had put Christmas lights all over the house and… it was like they came to life whenever Will or the Demogorgon were near.” you explained, memories coming to you from three years ago.

“Vecna’s here. In this house. Just on the other side.” Lucas said just when the lights above them went out.

“I think he just left the room.” Robin said.

“Did he hear us?” Max asked something you couldn’t answer, but Steve decided to make it worse with another unexplainable question.

“Can he see us?”

“Headphones.” Lucas told Max, and she quickly obliged.

“Wait, wait. Everyone, turn off your flashlights and spread out.” Nancy told you and you turned off the flashlight in your hand without any questions, understanding what Nancy was hinting.

“But then we’re not gonna be able to see if we turned off our flash…” you heard Steve’s confused voice that stopped when he realized that everyone had already gone in different directions. He shook his head and went after you, scared to be left alone.

“I got him! Got him!” it wasn’t long before Robin was screaming for you to get here “I got him! I… I had him.” however it didn’t last long.

You continued holding up your flashlight, waiting for Vecna to appear, when Steve’s voice interrupted the silence from beside you.

“Oh whoa. Oh, I think he’s moving.” you watch his lit-up flashlight with determination, feeling as if you remove your gaze from it, the light will disappear “He’s moving. He’s moving.” you follow after him as he tries to guess Vecna’s next movement “Shit. I lost him.”

“No, you didn’t.” Max’s flashlight was the next one to light up, making you all follow her. She heads towards a small staircase. You were next to Max, so you were able to easily see where it was leading to and announce it to the rest.

“It’s an attic.”

“Of course, it’s an attic.” Robin said with her usual load of sarcasm.

“Hold up, guys. What if he’s leading us into a trap?” Dustin tried to voice his concerns but stopped when he realized that all of you ignored him and just headed up the stairs entering the attic.

You couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, just an empty, dusty attic filled with unused furniture. However, something odd did catch your eye. A single light bulb was in the center of the room, already flickering.

You circle around it, completely missing your own flashlights coming to life too, until Dustin points it out. You lifted them up, the light becoming brighter than ever.

“Okay, what’s happening?” Steve asked and you answered under your breath.

“I don’t know.”

Suddenly, as the lights got brighter and brighter, the glass from the torches started exploding one by one. You covered your heads to protect yourselves from the sharp glass shards. The last one to explode was the single lightbulb, darkness surrounding you. You lift your head back up, looking around the room, sharing the same thought.

You have found his hideout.

“Not to be a wimp, but can I maybe sit in the car for this visit? Cause this is gonna totally and royally suck.” Robin voiced her concern from the front of the car.

It was the next day and you were heading back to Eddie’s hiding spot, finally bringing him the food and beer he had requested. With the whole realization you had yesterday, you kind of forgot that you also had a fugitive to take care of.

“It won’t be that bad.” you said from the back of Nancy’s car, trying to believe it yourself. It wasn’t just his fury at you about being late that concerned you, it was also the fact that everything you suspected had happened, had actually happened.

“I just can’t stand to see those doe eyes of Eddie’s break again. I really, really can’t”

“At least he can drink himself into feeling better.” Steve consoled Robin, holding up the six-pack of beers.

“That’s what my mom does.” Max confessed like it was no big deal.

“Why don’t we just give it a trial run? ‘Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Only the bad news is that he’s in that other, darker, much scarier dimension that we told you about, and the gate’s closed, so we have no way of getting to him. He’s entirely shut off to us, so basically, you’re screwed. And, no, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you’re like doubly, triply screwed.” Robin’s words made you realize just how horrible this whole thing was going to be, so you let your head fall down on your hands.

“Okay, wait, wait. Maybe we don’t put it like that.” Lucas requested and Nancy stepped up.

“We’re one step closer to finding Vecna. That’s what we say. That’s what’s important.”

“See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference.” Robin hummed at your boyfriend’s words, muffled as he was chewing on some Pringles, but before you could continue, Nancy’s words interrupted your previous conversation.

“Oh, shit.” Nancy said and parked the car.

The whole town was at Eddie’s hideout, leaving you no choice but to think that you were too late and the police had caught an innocent man. You all got out of the car and made your way carefully behind a van close enough to the Chief of the police, Powell, so you could easily hear him talk about what had happened.

Another student had been killed, his name was Patrick McKinney and the main suspect for the murder was Eddie, who was now, also, a public suspect. The good thing was Eddie was not caught, but the bad things are piling up so much, you’re not sure when they’re gonna tumble.

“Oh, man. This is not good. This is really not good.” Steve said under his breath, after you gathered enough information to catch up.

“Where the heck is Eddie?” as if he could hear your question, Dustin’s radio came to life, Eddie’s voice calling out for you.

“Dustin, can you hear me? Y/n?”

“Eddie, holy shit. Are you okay?” Dustin quickly answered Eddie’s call of distress.

“Nah, man. Pretty- pretty goddamn far from okay.” you could hear the strain in his voice, clearly stress over what was happening.

“Where is he?” Robin asked and Dustin repeated the question to the fugitive.

“Skull Rock. Do you know it?” oh you were quite familiar with Skull Rock, your eyes landing on Steve out of pure instinct.

“Uh, yeah. That’s near Cornwallis and-” Dustin tried to recall the location, but Steve already knew exactly how to get there.

“Garret, yeah. I know- we know where that is.” he pointed to you and smirked when he saw the redness forming on your cheeks. However, his gaze then fell on Nancy, who was standing next to you, and let out a slight cough when he remembered he didn’t go there only with you.

He shook his head to forget the memories and jogged to the car, ready to drive you to where Skull Rock was.

“Hold tight. We’re coming. We’re coming.” Dustin tells Eddie, and he gets into the car after you.

Steve is at the front with Dustin, following him as they were trying to understand where they were supposed to be heading. Steve knew they were heading in the wrong direction, but Dustin was certain it was this way since his compass was saying so.

“Dude, I’m telling you, you’re taking us the wrong way.” Steve complained.

“It’s north. I’m positive. I checked the map.” he had the map in his left hand and the compass in his right, constantly checking the direction and huffing when he always saw it pointing at a different one.

“You do realize Skull Rock, it’s like a super popular make-out spot?” Steve told him, Dustin not getting where he was heading at.

“Yeah. So?”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t popular until I made it popular.” he pointed to himself “All right? I practically invented it. We’re heading in the wrong direction.” Steve did a sharp turn and went off the trail into the woods to get them to the spot he knew like the back of his hand.

“Steve. Where are you going? Steve!”

“Stop whining. Let’s go. Come on, trust me, man.” he waved his hand for him to follow, and after an exaggerated groan, Dustin did as he was told “Like I said, I’ve been there plenty of times. It was one of the things I was known for back in high school.”

“Wait.” Dustin paused for a moment in his spot, while in thought “Have you been with my sister here?”

“Worse.” Steve answered.

“Have you not been with my sister here?”

“How is that worse to you?”

“I want my sister to get the best treatment you could possibly offer her.” Steve shook his head at his words but cleared his throat to explain himself.

“Let’s just say that out of the 3 legal of age women in the group, I’ve come here with 2 of them.”

“Oh. Oh! Come on man!” Dustin finally understood what Steve was saying, but after thinking about it for a moment, he couldn’t help but chuckle “You’re even more screwed if my sister remembers that.”

A little further behind, you were walking beside Nancy, Robin just a little ahead of you, trying to hear what Max and Lucas were talking about.

You were quiet, enjoying the familiar walk to Skull Rock, when Nancy cleared her throat, bringing your attention to her.

“So, have you ever come to Skull Rock?”

“Oh, yeah, I have.” you nodded, memories of you and Steve coming into your mind “You?”

“Yeah.” her voice was a bit strained.

“Have we come here with the same guy?”

“I think so, yeah.” you stole a look at Nancy. Her face was full of concern, worried that you would think this is weird, you two talking about your present and past relationships, but you just let out a big chuckle. Your reaction made her feel more relaxed, seeing that it wasn’t as big of a deal as she was building it up in her head it would be.

“Why were you so nervous? It’s not like I wasn’t there when you dated him for a year. I encouraged you.”

“Well, encouragement isn’t the word I would use, but yeah I know.”

“Hey, can you blame me? He wasn’t the best back then.” thinking of King Steve and your Steve was like thinking of two completely different people.

“I know. You’ve made him better.” Nancy smiled at you, and you quickly returned the gesture.

“We both did.” you didn’t feel weird at all talking about Steve with each other. First and foremost, you were friends, and you did find this whole situation hilarious. Suddenly, Robin interrupted your small moment after getting back from ‘spying’ on the other troubled couple of the group.

“Oh my God, they’re so adorable. I just want to squeeze ‘em, you know?” she told you, making your gaze fall on Max and Lucas walking ahead of you. It was nice seeing them spend some time with each other, even under these circumstances “If I’m permitted to see a silver lining in this end-of-the-world doom and gloom, it would be two souls coming together and forgetting all their previous faults out of love. I didn’t mean that as a hint or anything.”

“Right.” you nodded your head, not believing her for a second.

“But if I did mean it as a hint, would that be so terrible? I mean, to wish happiness for all of my friends?” you scoffed at her words, Nancy deciding to get to the bottom of what was happening.

“What actually happened between you guys?”

“Robin is overexaggerating. We really are fine. Just a small fight, just like all other couples have.” you told her, but by the look on your friend’s face, she needed a better explanation than that, so you gave in “Basically, I asked him to move in with me and he ignored me.” Nancy’s eyebrows shot up while Robin defended both sides.

“He didn’t ignore you.”

“He did. He didn’t want to talk about it which to me says everything I need to know. He’s not ready and it’s fine. It just annoyed me how he handled it.” you confessed to your friends, your gaze staying on the ground.

“I didn’t know you guys were that serious, but I do believe you. I bet it’s nothing. Steve has always been too anxious for his own good. But with the way he looks at you, you have nothing to be worried about.”

“Thank you.” you looked at her, wanting to sent her another smile, but you stopped when you noticed she was the gloomy one right now. You turned to look at Robin, who had also noticed but just shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what to do. After a moment she cleared her throat and looked over at Nancy.

“Do you have something you wanna share to the group, Nancy?”

“I’m having a similar situation with Jonathan…” she confessed.

“Really?” you asked, letting her go on.

“It’s just… He was supposed to be here for the break, and then he backed out the last minute for some vague, mumbly Jonathan reason. And, to be honest, I’m not even that surprised, because I’ve been feeling him pulling away. A- and I don’t know if it’s because we’re 2,000 miles away or if he met someone new or what. And now I can’t find out why because apparently, he’s blown up his family’s house or something.”

“You’ve been holding that in for a while now, huh?”

“Yeah.” she nodded at her question, glad to have finally expressed her frustration.

“Nancy, I know how it can be but I can promise you, you don’t need to start creating all these crazy scenarios in your mind. Jonathan is scared, but he’s definitely not cheating on you.” you explained as you picked up the pace when you saw Steve enter a big bush, entering Skull Rock.

“Is scared? What do you mean ‘is scared’? Have you talked to him?” Nancy called out for you. You realized you had let out more information than Jonathan would have liked, so you just pushed past the bush in front of you to avoid the conversation.

“Oh, boom! Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face.” he took a look at the scowl on your face, his hands going up defensively “He started it.”

“Doesn’t make sense.” Dustin looked down at his compass in confusion. You patted his shoulder as you passed by him, your eyes scanning the area for Eddie.

“Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you right in the face, you can’t admit it. Can’t admit that you’re wrong, you little butthead.” just when Steve ended his sentence a sudden thud made you turn around, scaring the shit out of you. However, relief replaced the feeling when you realized it was just Eddie making a theatrical entrance.

“I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a… total butthead.”

“Jesus, we thought you were a goner.” your brother let out a sigh and went to hug his friend.

“Yeah, me too, man. Me too.” his eyes settled on you and Steve as they hugged. You sent him a small smile, glad to see he was okay.

After the rest appeared out of the bush, Eddie began explaining what had happened while you were gone.

“When I got to the shore, I tried calling for you guys, but, uh…” he opened a flash, drinking what you guessed, no hoped, was water in there “My walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran.” he chuckled humorlessly.

He was squatting in front of Skull Rock, the rest of you standing before him, listening closely.

“Do you know what time this was? The attack?” Nancy asked him.

“Yeah, no, I… I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn’t the only thing that got soaked.” he took off his watch tossing it over to Nancy, who caught it and looked at it, to confirm her suspicions.

“9:27.”

“Same time our flashlights went kablooey.” Robin said.

“Which means what exactly?” Steve asked from beside you.

“It means that the surge of energy we experienced was Vecna attacking Patrick.” you explained.

“Well, we’re one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks.” Robin said and Lucas continued her train of thought.

“And where he attacks from.”

“So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and Drive a stake through his heart.” you looked at Max. The rest went on with the conversation, but your attention was suddenly focused elsewhere. Your gaze was fixed on Dustin who was walking up and down staring at his compass.

You were only able to join the conversation again when Eddie addressed the question you also had in your mind.

“Hey, uh, Henderson’s not, uh, cursed, is he?”

“I’m not entirely sure.” you told him and moved towards your brother.

“Oh, come on, he’s fine. Cursed? No. Mental? Absolutely.” Steve answered for you, always ready to comment on Dustin’s antics.

You were just a couple meters away from your brother, when his loud exclamation stopped your movements.

“Boom!” all your eyes widen in shock, while Dustin turns around and points at Steve “Bada… Bada… Boom. I was right. Skull Rock was north.” Steve rolled his eyes at him

“Seriously? You’re serious?” Dustin nodded and hummed with a huge grin on his face “This is Skull Rock. Okay? You’re totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now!”

“Yes. And no.”

“Oh my God…” Steve groaned. You moved forward landing on your brother’s side as he handed you the compass to check it out.

“This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers’. It was correct when we got in the car on Kerley, but it started to slip the further east we went. Now, it’s way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn’t wrong. The compass was.” you looked down at your hands to see the compass’s needle not pointing correctly, just like Dustin was saying.

“So, you’re using faulty equipment. You’re still wrong.” Steve tried to reason with Dustin, but your brother was still not giving in.

“Except it isn’t faulty.”

Suddenly, as if a lightbulb lit up in your mind, you finally understood what Dustin was talking about.

“Wait- Are you saying…”

“Yep.” your brother turned to look at you with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Is that even possible? How?” you questioned him, the rest looking at the two of you as if you had each grown two heads.

“I don’t know but it could explain a lot of blanks in our theory.”

“What is happening?” Eddie asked the group.

“Oh right, you’re new. This is a Henderson thing, you’ll get used to it.” Steve answered him.

“Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?” Dustin pointed to Lucas.

“An electromagnetic field.” the other kid answered, realization hitting him aswell.

“Yep.”

“I’m sorry. I must’ve skipped that class.” Robin looked very confused, not understanding what you were talking about.

“In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power.” You pointed to the direction the needle was pointing at right now.

“So, either there’s some super big magnet around here, or…” Dustin stopped talking, wanting someone else to finish his thought.

“There’s a gate.” Lucas was the one to finish it.

“But we’re nowhere near the lab.” Nancy asked you.

“But what if, somehow, there’s another gate? A gate that we don’t know about. It’d have to be smaller. Way less powerful.” Dustin suggested.

“Snack-size gate.” Robin commented and you nodded.

“It is possible. Nancy, remember when you, me, and Jonathan were searching for Will? You went into the Upside Down through a small gate in the woods. It’s plausible Vecna’s doing the same.” you explained to her, and she nodded her head.

“How? Why?” Steve was the next one to question your crazy theory.

“No idea. All we know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we’ve seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is because then we’d have a way to Vecna. And a shot at freeing Max from this curse.” Dustin looked at Max, hope once again rising through all of you.

He turned to give you a look and without a word, you nodded, gave him the compass, and followed after him as he began walking towards the direction the needle was pointing to.

“Where are you going?” Steve called out for the two of you, his voice making you stop, and grab Dustin from his backpack when you realized he had no intentions of stopping and listening to him “Eddie’s still a wanted man. We can’t just go for a hike in the woods.”

“This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie. What say you, Eddie the Banished?” Dustin turned to Eddie and you all turned to stare at him, waiting to see what he would say.

“I say you’re asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I’m totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire… the Shire is burning.” you smiled after hearing his words and seeing your brother jump up and down when he realized Eddie was into this whole thing. They were a weird duo but they worked “So Mordor it is.” Eddie got up and followed Dustin, the rest quickly accepting the plan and going after them. You stood in your spot waiting for Steve, who still looked confused.

“What is Mordor?” he said under his breath making you chuckle.

“I’ve told you a hundred times to read ‘The Lord of the Rings’ but you never listen to me.” you grabbed his hand and tagged him along, when Eddie ran back towards you and went to Skull Rock, picking up some of the stuff he had left there.

“Get your stuff, dude. Let’s go.”

“ ’Let them a journey new begin.’ ” you reference the book with a smile, making Eddie stop in his tracks and look at you pleased.

“I’m liking you more and more, older Henderson.”

It honestly felt like you were walking forever. The sky was now dark blue, any sight of the sun gone. You were, as always, at the back of the group following Dustin. Suddenly you saw the rest pick up their paces, so with a quick look at Steve, you started chasing after them.

“I think we’re getting close.” Dustin announced, looking back to the rest of you, missing the fact that right in front of him was a lake. Luckily, Eddie was there to stop him before he fell in.

“Watch your step, big guy.”

You finally catch up to them, seeing the very familiar lake in front of you.

“Oh man. You gotta be shitting me.” Steve was breathless from all the running, glad to just stand still for a moment.

“Yeah. I thought these woods were familiar.” Eddie said, and you nodded.

“Lover’s Lake.” Robin pointed out.

“This is confounding.” Dustin was the only one who didn’t sound exhausted or confused, just entertained.

“There’s a gate in Lover’s Lake?” Max asked.

“Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna’s the same way.” Nancy answered and you bit your lip.

“So, yesterday’s attack left an opening at Lover’s Lake. How convenient for us.”

“Yeah, only one way to find out.” Steve pointed at the covered little boat beside you. Eddie uncovered it and the two of them pushed it to the water.

The first one to get on was Robin, who completely ignored Steve’s offer to help her with his hand, and just balanced herself by grabbing their hands. You shook your head with a small smile and headed to them, waiting your turn.

Steve turned to see you next and you gladly accepted his help, your hand easily landing on his. You thanked him and sat down opposite Robin, who had made herself comfortable at the front of the boat. Next was Eddie, and then Nancy. The boat already felt too crowded, so when Dustin placed his bag in and tried to get on as well, Eddie smacked him in the head, sending his whole body back.

“Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us?” Dustin looked confused, so you leaned forward to ease his wound.

“It can only hold four people okay, buddy? We’ll carry on the quest.” you told him and Nancy joined in.

“It’s better this way, okay? You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble.” she was right. You didn’t like leaving them here alone, but you also didn’t want them anywhere near the gate, so sacrifices must happen.

“You keep an eye out.” Dustin sassed, his tone shocking you “It’s my goddamn theory.” he complained and Robin rolled her eyes next to you.

“You heard Nance.”

“Who put her in charge?” Dustin asked pointing at Nancy in front of him.

“I did.” Robin replied with a proud smile on her face.

“Compass.” Nancy demanded, the palm of her hand in the air, right in front of Dustin, commanding the compass. After a frown, Dustin complied and handed it to her. You sent him a grateful smile, which made him mock you in return.

“Hey, there you go.” Steve said and threw Dustin his bag back right before pushing the boat to the water and quickly getting in as well.

“You said four!” Dustin yelled and Steve mumbled a not so heartfelt apology back.

“Stay safe!” you yelled at them and gave Steve your hand, helping him get situated inside the boat.

“Bedtime at nine, kiddos. Miss you already!” Robin joked, as she stood up and waved at the kids, making Dustin give her the middle finger.

You were kind of pushing it by having five people in the small boat, but you were determined to make it work. So here you were, squished between Steve and Nancy while Robin and Eddie paddled. Nancy had given you the compass when she sat down, so you were now guiding them to where the needle was pointing, while Nancy and Steve looked around for anything that could give away where the gate was located.

Suddenly the needle goes crazy and you tell them to stop moving the boat. They huddle close to you, staring at the compass.

“Guys, what’s going on?” your brother’s voice sounded from the radio “Come on, guys, talk to me, what’s going on?” he must have seen you stopped, eager to find out what caused it.

Robin picks it up and answers “Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital ‘ahh’!”

Before you could give your brother an actual answer, the boat started swaying more and you realized, when you turned to your left, Steve’s movement was what made you all move. You looked at him confused as he took off his shoes and socks.

“Steve, what are you doing?” you asked him.

“Somebody’s gotta go down and check this thing out. Unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then… it’s gotta be me.”

“What?” you asked shocked.

“No complaints, all right?”

“Hey, I’m not complaining. I do not wanna go down there.” Eddie said, but you paid no attention to him or the fact that he was throwing stuff all over the boat, too focused on your boyfriend who was now standing up, and taking off his sweater. You panicked and rose, holding his arms to stop him from jumping in.

“Steve, you can’t just-” he swiftly removed himself from your hand, letting his hands hold both sides of your face, looking deeply into your eyes.

“I’ll be fine, okay? It’s just a swim. I’ll be right back.” he pecked your lips and without another word guided you to sit back down. Everything happened so quickly that you didn’t know if you should allow your body to blush at his kiss or stand up again and tell him to stop being so reckless.

“Hey.” Eddie pulled you out of your trance, and you looked over to see he had created a good enough waterproof solution for the flashlight using a plastic bag he had in his pockets. Steve turns and takes it when Eddie hands it over “Good luck.” he wishes him and Steve in return thanks him and throws him his sweater.

You watch as Steve takes a deep breath, ready to dive, but you call out for him before he can disappear into the water. His head turns to look at you “Be careful.” he smiles and nods. Before you can blink, Steve throws his body into the water. You move yourself to the side of the boat, looking at the spot he had descended from.

You thought you were standing there for an hour, but according to the rest, Steve was closing in on just a minute under there. The silence was deafening, as you waited. You didn’t even realize you were holding your breath as well, until Steve appeared with a big splash, sending water inside the boat and scaring all of you at once.

“I found it.” he breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath.

“You found it?” Nancy asked again shocked.

“I found it. Yeah. I found it.” he takes the hand you were offering him, helping him grab onto the boat. You smiled, happy to see he was okay.

“Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein. Steve found the gate.” Robin spoke on the radio to inform the kids what was happening.

“It’s pretty wild. It’s more a snack-size gate than the mama gate, but still, it’s pretty damn big.” you didn’t have the time to chuckle at his comment, because for a moment his whole body went underwater again. Luckily his reflexes were quick, so he was able to hold himself upwards, never letting go of the boat.

He looked back up at you, confusion taking control of his face. Then he is gone.

You yell and call out for him, not understanding what had just happened. You’re once again standing still, frozen in your spot, not registering any of the words the rest are saying. Suddenly, your body decides your next move before your mind can.

“Wait, wait, wait. You’re not going in there, are you?” Eddie asks you when he sees you shrugging off the jacket you were wearing, leaving you with your top on.

“Don’t follow.”

It was the only thing you told them, before diving after Steve. A little voice inside of you was screaming at you, telling you what a terrible idea this was, but a bigger one was repeating only one word, Steve. And you could only listen to the latter.

You swam as fast as you could. You weren’t good at holding your breath but you were not gonna let anything stop you. Your eyes search the dark water for some sign of Steve or the gate, finally landing on something that irked your attention.

A soft red glow was calling for you at the bottom of the lake. As you got closer, the brighter it got and you quickly realized it was what you were looking for. All around the gate were veins, similar to the ones you had come across so many times when dealing with Upside Down. However, you had never seen a gate like that before. You let your hand touch the red wall separating you from the other dimension and it only took a small push for the gate to let you in.

The moment you landed on the other side, you were coughing up, gladly letting in air on your lungs, poisonous or not. With deep breaths, you looked up and saw you were still at the lake, but here there was no water. Everything looked frozen, a gray fog surrounding everything in the Upside Down making goosebumps cover your body as red thunder echoed around you.

Noises interrupted your thoughts, and you turned around to see Nancy, Robin, and Eddie appearing from the gate. You sighed and stood up, watching them as they caught their breath.

“What did I tell you?”

“Something stupid.” Robin answered you. You scoffed, but not without a smile creeping into your mouth as you helped them get back on their feet.

A scream sounding from your right. Your head whipped around, immediately recognizing Steve’s voice. Weird creatures were over him, holding him by his neck and bruising his sides with their teeth. They were small, smaller than the monsters you were used to from the Upside Down, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t do the same amount of damage. They looked like bats that had escaped from a radioactive lab. You wanted to tear them apart, but you knew that wouldn’t help your situation, so your eyes searched around for anything that could help you. Besides Steve, you saw a boat covered in veins, but the oar that was sticking out was what caught your eye. The second one was on the ground.

You signaled for the others to grab the one by the boat, while you hurried to hold the one nearest to Steve. The moment you had it, you swung it forward and hit one of the creatures, sending it away from Steve. You saw his eyes moving to watch you and a stern look on your face, almost being able to feel the adrenaline off you.

“Hey there.” you say and kick the other thing off his torso. You call out for Robin to step on the one choking Steve so you can easily hit it with the back of the oar. You can hear Eddie encourage you, before spotting another one of the creatures nearing you from the air. He calls out for Nancy who was holding the other oar, so she can have a heads up and prepare. She starts swinging at it and he looks around for a rock to grab and hit it with.

Meanwhile, you and Robin are still trying to remove the creature from Steve’s neck, but it is extremely stubborn. Robin is now also beating the hell out of it with one of the flashlights. Eddie and Nancy are still trying to sway off the creature and they succeed, only to realize it wasn’t actually leaving, just changing targets. Nancy calls out for you to look out as more come her way, but you weren’t able to hear her correctly, so in your moment of confusion over what was happening you completely miss the creature crashing into you from behind and sending you to the ground, the oar falling from your grasp.

You try to reach for it, but you’re unable to. Robin rushes to help you get it off. Just then Steve regains some of his strength and manages to yank the beast from his neck, taking it by its tail. You let out a scream, feeling the things nails scratching and making your back bleed. Finally, Robin succeeds, removing the creature from your back and yanking it to the ground. You stood back to your feet, a groan leaving your lips, but you swallowed the pain down, grabbing the oar once again and giving the creature one more big, final blow to its head.

You finally feel like you’re able to breath, turning around to see if anyone else needed help. You watched everyone staring at Steve who was still holding the monster by its tail, yanking it back and forth, letting it hit the ground with force each time. After he felt like it was enough, he stepped on it with one foot, giving him the support he needed to tear the thing in half. In the end, he’s breathing heavily, letting the half he was holding fall to the ground and spitting out blood that had collected in his mouth from the fight.

You let out a relieved sigh and immediately go up to him. You say his name softly and wrap your arms around him. His own settle at your waist, his face falling on your shoulder. After hugging him for a few moments, you pull back to take a good look at his face. He was covered in dirt and blood.

You brought your hand up to wipe some of it off, Steve leaning into your touch “Are you okay?”

“Well, they took about a pound of flesh. But other than that, yeah, never better.” his tone was sarcastic, trying to hide how much the bites and claw marks were hurting him. You looked down, your hands touching his wounds gently to inspect the damage, however, he wasn’t focused on any of that “You’re insane for following me down here.”

You couldn’t help but agree with him, but then again, you’ve always been insane “And let you have all the fun? I don’t think so.” he scoffed with an exhausted smile tugging at his lips. You leaned in when he rested his forehead against yours, breathing each other in, glad you were both okay.

“Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?”

“What?” Steve’s brows frowned, turning to stare at Robin, annoyed that your small moment was over.

“It’s just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear. And I think we should get you to a doctor, like, really soon because once the symptoms set it, it’s too late. You’re already, like, dead.”

“Thanks for the pep talk, Robin.” you said when shrieking erupted around you. It startled you, making you all huddle together, you and Steve at the front.

You turn to look at the bats who were forming a guard around the gate, making it quite hard to get past and leave the Upside Down.

“All right. There’s not that many.” Steve says, his body guarding you. The bats shriek at you “We can take them. Right?” he sounded less sure at the end, making you concerned.

All your hopes disappeared when you saw more of them heading your way.

“You were saying?” Robin asked full of sarcasm.

“The woods. Come on.” Nancy said and you followed her, running for your life. You carefully avoided any veins, as you remembered what these veins meant here, and entered the woods.

You ended up hiding under Upside Down’s Skull Rock, waiting for the bats to lose your tracks. The moment the coast was clear, you all stood up, leaving your hiding spot.

“That was close.” Eddie agreed with Robin. You were looking upwards, watching the bats fly away when a noise from your left made you turn your head.

Your heart dropped in fear when you saw Steve gripping his wounds, his whole body leaning on the rock, dizziness taking over his senses.

“Steve?” he hated how scared you sounded.

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” his sentence ended in a groan, his eyes squishing from the pain. You rushed forward to guide him to the ground carefully.

“You’re not fine, Steve. You’re losing a lot of blood. God…” you exclaimed when you saw his bloody hands. You placed yours on top of them, gently removing them from his torso, all of you gasping when you saw the amount of blood that had left his wounds.

“We need something to cover them…” you searched your body, feeling your clothes to find something that could help. The fabric was too thin and small for a job like this, and also incredibly torn in the back after all the scratching from the creatures. Luckily Nancy came to the rescue and started tearing a part of her blouse to give you.

“Okay. So, the good news here is I’m pretty sure wooziness is not a common symptom of rabies. But if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms or you start feeling really aggressive, like- like you wanna punch me or something, you should totally let me know.”

“Robin?” Steve said.

“Yeah?”

“I kinda wanna punch you.” his breathing was heavy, trying to not pass out from the dizziness.

“Sense of humor’s still intact. That’s a good sign.” she laughed. You thanked Nancy after she handed the fabric to you, and Robin took it as her sign to leave you alone following after Nancy, certain she could not bear to see that.

“Okay… It might hurt.” you eyed his face, your own full of worry.

Steve nodded “Do it.” he grunts and does his best to hold himself up to give you better access to the wound.

You start wrapping his waist with the fabric, gently but firmly so it can hold any more blood that would want to get out. You hear him groan in pain, his stomach flexing at the touch. You apologized but he just told you he was fine.

“Is it too tight?” you were almost done, just waiting for the clear to tie the knot and secure its place.

“No, it’s- it’s good.” you nodded at his words and finished the knot at the front. You hoped it would be enough.

You looked back at him, hating how in pain he looked. He leaned back against the stone, his eyes falling on you with a sigh.

“Thank you, baby.” you let a small smile out at the nickname and kissed his forehead.

“So, uh…” Eddie starts talking, bringing your focus on him “This place is like Hawkins but with monsters and nasty shit?” he was standing on top of a fallen tree.

“Pretty much.” Nancy answered.

You placed your arms around Steve’s waist, careful to not touch his wound, his arm around your shoulders, and helped him stand right back up. You looked back at Eddie, seeing him ready to jump off the trunk, back to the ground, but a warning from you made him stop.

“Wait, watch out for the vines. It’s all a hive mind.” you tried to explain, but from the look on Eddie’s face it obviously wasn’t enough.

“It’s all a what?”

“All the creepy crawlies around here, dude.” you helped Steve lean to the stone once again, never leaving his side to make sure you’d be there if he needed help “They’re, like, one or something. You step on a vine, you’re stepping on a bat, you’re stepping on Vecna.” you nodded at his words. Eddie looked spooked as he carefully let himself back into the ground slowly, his feet never touching the veins.

“But everything from our world is still here, right?” Robin questioned.

“As far as I understand it, yeah.” Nancy answered her.

“So, theoretically, we could go to the police station, and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate.” she suggested.

“I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin. But, uh, guns? Yeah, sure.” Steve said, his hand never leaving his bandaged wound.

“Well, we don’t have to go all the way downtown for guns. I have guns in my bedroom.” Nancy told you.

“You.” Eddie had finally landed back on the ground “Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?”

“Full of surprises, isn’t she?” Robin said rhetorically, a smile on her face.

“A Russian Makarov and a revolver.” the other girl explained, and Steve scoffed at the memory.

“Yeah, you almost shot me with that one.”

“It was in the heat of the moment.” you defended Nancy, also remembering your adventure at the Byer’s house. A glimpse of blue coming towards you caught your attention, realizing it was Eddie's sleeveless, jean jacket that he had taken off and thrown at Steve.

“For your modesty, dude.” he explained and your boyfriend nodded.

All of a sudden, the earth started shaking, surprising all of you and making you lose your balance. You hang onto Steve, who puts his arms around you without a second thought. You grabbed Nancy’s hand and pulled her under the rock with you, while Eddie held Robin on the ground. The earthquake wasn’t long, but its strength did scare you. When the shaking stopped, you heard a creature baying in the distance and echoing through the woods. It was one of the scariest sounds you had ever heard.

“Yeah, so guns seem like a pretty good idea to me.”

“Yeah, me too.” Eddie and Robin said, still on the ground.

“So, what are we waiting for?” Steve said, swiftly putting on the jacket in his arms and getting the torch from his back pocket, turning it on and leading the way. You were the first one to follow after him, your eyes always scanning the ground for the veins.

If you want to be tagged just ask!

You arrived at Hawkins High quickly, rushing to get inside and find the rest. When you spotted Steve and the kids, you felt relief to see them alive. But that feeling was quickly replaced by dread as Steve was over Max who was lying on the floor.

“It was here. Right here.” the redhead explained to you after she got off the ground and calmed herself down. She was looking forward to a wall in front of you, searching for something that clearly wasn’t there.

“A grandfather clock?” Nancy asked.

“It was so real. And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just… I woke up.”

“It was like she was in a trance or something. Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy.” Dustin’s face was filled with worry, even though he wanted to mask it. Hearing his words made you all imagine the worst about your dear friend.

“Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelley for help. Uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn’t go away. And then… then the nightmares. Trouble sleeping. They’d wake up in a cold sweat. And then they started seeing things. Bad things. From their pasts. And these visions, they just… they kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually… everything ended.” Max explained to you and the girls who had missed their part of the plan.

“Vecna’s curse.” Robin stated.

“Chrissy’s headaches started a week ago. Fred’s six days ago. I’ve been having them for five days. I don’t know how long I have.” you immediately opened your mouth to argue but Max shot her hand up, stopping you before moving on “All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than 24 hours after their first vision. And I just saw that goddamn clock, so… looks like I’m gonna die tomorrow.”

Before any of you could say anything, clanging began echoing through the halls. You tensed up and looked at Steve to see his next move. His eyes fell on you and without hesitation took the responsibility in his shoulders.

“Stay here.” he told all of you before picking up a lamp that was next to him, leaving the room and you behind. You knew that he was never scared to confront anything that came your way, but he also knew that none of you ever listened to him, so it was a matter of time before he heard footsteps following him.

You were right behind him, ready to assist him in any way possible. You focused on the noises, the sound of footsteps coming closer and closer to you. Steve lifted his arms and the lamp, ready to strike when he saw the intruder round the corner you were in. However, a yelp fell from your mouth the moment you saw the face before you was a familiar one. Luckily, Steve’s reflexes were quick so he stopped his movement before he could hit Lucas, who started screaming along with the rest of you.

“It’s me!” the poor boy exclaimed, his voice heavy as he panted.

“Lucas?” Nancy asked out of pure confusion.

“It’s me!”

“Jesus. What’s wrong with you, Sinclair?” Steve yelled at the kid.

“I’m sorry.” Lucas exhaled deeply, trying to find his breath.

“I could’ve taken you out with this lamp.” your boyfriend cried out, clearly shaken up over this.

“Lucas, what are you doing here?” you asked, trying to find some answers to this whole mess. Why is he here? Did he follow you?

“I’m sorry, guys. Sorry. I was… I was biking for eight miles. Give me a second.” he held up his finger to you, as he took deep breaths in and out “Shit. We’ve got a code red.”

“What?” Steve asked, the lamp now on the floor next to him.

“Dustin.” Lucas walked up to your brother “I’ve been with Jason, Patrick, and Andy, and they’ve gone like totally off the rails. They’re trying to capture Eddie, and they think you know where he is. You’re in terrible danger.” your eyes opened wide at his words.

“All right, yeah, that- that definitely sucks, but we’ve got bigger problems than Jason right now.” Dustin looked over at Max, Lucas quickly following his eyes. You watched as the boy’s face fell and the realization hit him the moment he saw the girl he loved. Something was wrong and it was far bigger than Jason.

After last night’s crazy adventure, you returned back to safety but this time you spent the night at the Wheeler’s basement. It was kind of weird being here without Mike. You kept trying to reach out to the rest in California, but the line was always busy. Dustin blamed Joyce’s new job.

So, since you couldn’t find anyone else to help, you figured it was up to you to solve this mystery. Just like old times you thought.

Nancy and Robin had talked with you early in the morning about what they were planning on doing. You nodded as you listened to the plan “Your only job right now is to inform the rest about what we found. Easy peasy.” and sure, you would have agreed with Nancy’s statement if you weren’t dealing with three boys who share three brain cells.

“Okay, be honest. Uh… You guys understand any of this?”

“No.”

“Pretty straightforward.”

You were showing Steve, Lucas and Dustin, the newspaper article you had found at the library, and your brother, being the group’s, know-it-all decided to showcase his smarts to the rest who clearly weren’t having it, especially your boyfriend. He was pacing back and forth as he read the papers in his hands, while you were sat in the armchair, the kids on the sofa next to you.

“Oh, straightforward, really?” Steve asked Dustin impatiently.

“Well, what’s confusing to you? So far, everyone Vecna has cursed has died, except for this old Victor Creel dude Nancy found. He’s the only known survivor. If anyone knows how to beat this curse, it’s him.” Dustin explained as you sat and listened to their conversation, waiting for a moment to let you explain your findings.

“Yeah, that’s assuming he was cursed, Henderson, which we don’t even know. How can Vecna have existed back in the ‘50s? It doesn’t even make sense.” Steve said, mostly to himself as he scratched his head, trying to make sense of what you told him.

“As far as we know, Eleven didn’t create the Upside Down. She opened a gate to it. The Upside Down has probably been around for thousands of years. Millions. I wouldn’t be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs.”

“Dinosaurs? Okay, what are we-” Steve was ready to argue with him when Lucas’s voice cut him off.

“Okay, okay, but if a gate didn’t exist in the ‘50s, how did Vecna get through?”

“Oh, and how’s he getting through now?” Steve pointed at Lucas, continuing on the question.

“And why now?”

“And why then? Just pops out in the ‘50s, kills one family, and he’s like, ‘Eh, I’m good’. And poof, he just disappears. Just… gone? Only to return 30 years later and start killing some random teens? No, I don’t buy it. Have you guys thought of anything?” your eyes landed on Steve when you realized he was asking you something, but you were quick to turn down his hopes over an explanation.

“Not anything that you haven’t said right now. I mean, it makes sense that this is connected to the Upside Down, you can’t explain it any other way. But how is it connected? How he came into our world now and then is something we haven’t solved. I just- I don’t know…” you sighed and shrugged your shoulders, accepting defeat.

“See, Henderson, it’s 3 to 1. Straightforward, my ass. You know, honestly, a little humility every now and then, it wouldn’t hurt you.” your eyes followed Steve who moved to sit on the armchair opposite to you, pointing his finger at Dustin.

“Sorry.” he said, but you could tell he didn’t mean it.

Silence filled you for a moment before Dustin’s interest picked up again when his eyes fell on Max “Any idea what she’s writing?” you and the rest followed his eyes and watched the said girl, hunched over the desk in the basement, writing on papers without ever stopping “Did she sleep?”

“I mean… would you?” Lucas asked him.

Just then the door at the top of the stairs opened, revealing Nancy and Robin who had just returned after perfecting the plan you had come up with.

“Okay, so… We have a plan.” Nancy announced, passing to you the 2 folders she had on her hands. After checking out their work, you handed it to the rest of the group.

“Thanks to Nancy’s newspaper minions, we are now rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame.” Robin started explaining enthusiastically. She was leaning on the staircase while Nancy sat on a stool next to her.

“I’m now Ruth.”

“And I’m Rose.” Nancy and Robin told you one by one.

“Ruth?” Steve questioned as he looked over one of the folders.

“Nice GPA.” Dustin started which made Nancy smile.

“Thanks. So, we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we’d like to speak with Victor Creel for a thesis we’re co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics-”

“To which they said no.” Robin cut in, her words making you scoff.

“Can’t imagine why.”

“But we landed a 3 o’clock with the director.” Nancy informed you.

“Now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor.” Robin continued the plan.

“And then maybe we can rid Max of this curse.” your friend’s eyes fell on Max’s figure.

“Yeah, about that? We’ve been doing our Victor Creel homework, and, uh… we got some questions.”

“Lots of questions.” Lucas agreed with Steve’s statement, to which Nancy and Robin could only nod their heads to.

“So do we. Hopefully, Victor has the answers.”

“Wait, wait, wait a second.” Steve said immediately after Nancy stopped talking. Confusion had filled his face as he pointed between the two of you “Uh… Where’s ours?” he held up one of the folder’s, chuckling as if he missed a vital piece of information.

“Steve. We’re not going.” you explained to him as a matter of fact.

And with this simple sentence, chaos erupted. You were now following behind Steve, who was following Nancy to her room to get prepared for the plan, arguing about his place in the group.

“You guys are outta your mind if you think I’m babysitting again.” Steve’s voice was loud as you stepped inside Nancy’s room.

“We need to keep them safe. What don’t you understand about that?” you argued back, your hands on your hips. Nancy was ignoring the situation as she started searching her closet.

“I know, but why does it always have to be me?” his body was now facing you, throwing his hands around with exaggeration.

Suddenly Robin came through, which pulled your attention from the arguing “Oh my God, you have a Tom Cruise poster. You have a Tom Cruise poster.” her smile was sly and aimed at Nancy who immediately got flustered.

“That’s old. It’s just. Can you please not touch anything?” you shook your head, removing yourself from that conversation, and returned to the one that mattered to you.

“Steve, what is the problem? Please, just say what you’re thinking for once.” you pleaded him, and after a moment of stuttering he pulled his thoughts together.

“I just- I can’t- I can’t do anything here to actually help. Do you feel like you’re helping?”

“Max is in danger, Steve. There is no way she’s staying here alone without an adult to help her. You don’t think that’s important?” you looked up at him. You knew you sounded like a mother scolding her child, but when he’s acting like a kid not getting his way, your behavior was called for.

“No, of course I do, but I do kind of want to get out into the field just once. You know maybe I can truly help with the asylum director. Maybe, like, turn on my charm.”

“Not the kind of charm we need.” Nancy interrupted you, which made Steve turn his head to her, a frown on his face.

“Ouch.”

“No, I just… I did a little digging last night, and it turns out this Dr. Hatch is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Harvard visiting scholar, okay? This is a lifelong student of the world, and if we’re gonna win him over, we’re gonna have to convince that him we are too. That like him, we are true academic scholars.”

“Holy shit. There’s a little ballerina in here.” Robin was once again in her own little world, making Steve scoff.

“Academic scholar? She’s giving you an academic scholar vibe? Yeah.” he said sarcastically making Nancy shrug her shoulders.

“Well, Y/n refused to join so we didn’t really have a choice.”

“You would have gone without me?” Steve whined at you.

“Did you miss the part where I said no?”

Before you could continue disagreeing, Nancy took your attention by holding up a pink dress she had pulled out of her closet “But it doesn’t matter because anyone will look the part with this…” the silence made Robin look up and stop her snooping when she realized the dress was meant for her.

“Oh, please, tell me that you’re joking?”

Steve had never felt more defeated as he sat on the couch, squished between Dustin and Lucas, trying to find something to focus on except for Max who was sitting right opposite of them, still writing.

“I know you guys are staring at me.”

“What? Sorry?”

“You said you needed something?”

“Just hanging out.”

“Yeah.”

You all told her at once, grabbing anything nearby to act as if she didn’t catch you staring at her. You busied yourself with a yo-yo that was lying on the floor.

“How do you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna, I don’t know.” you could see from the corner of your eye that Max was now out of her sacred chair and was walking towards you, but you were still focused on the very tangled yo-yo on your hands “You can look at me now.”

You let out a breath, letting the yo-yo fall from your hands back on the floor and lifting your head to watch her from your seat on the armchair.

“For you. For you. For you. For you, and, um, you.” you frowned when she began handing each of you letters “Oh, and, um, give these to Mike, El, and Will. If you can ever get a hold of them again.” she handed the rest to Lucas. You stole a glance at the guys and began opening the letter when Max’s voice stopped you “Hey what are you doing? No, don’t. That’s not for now. Don’t open it now.”

You lifted your hands up as if you surrendered to her demands when Dustin spoke up, asking the very thing you were all thinking “Don’t. Okay. I’m sorry. What is this?”

“It’s, um… It’s a fail-safe. For after… You know if things don’t work out.” your mouth fell open after hearing her words, your defense, or better denial, walls lifted up.

“What? Max, no.” you shook your head.

“Things are gonna work out.” Lucas tried to reassure her as well, but you quickly realized that this wasn’t what she was looking for.

“No! No, I don’t need you to reassure me right now and tell me it’s all gonna work out, because people have been telling me that my entire life and it’s almost never true. I mean, of course this asshole curses me. Should’ve seen that one coming.”

You teared up at her words, because even if you didn’t want to believe it, even if you knew all of you would do anything in your power to help her and keep her safe, the Upside Down was cruel, never showing mercy. You feared that her words were true and her fate was sealed, but till anything happened you were okay with being in denial. Just for a moment.

Max’s gaze traveled along the basement, finally landing on one of the radios on the table. She grabbed it and turned to ask Dustin a question “If we go to East Hawkins, will this reach Pennhurst?”

“Of course. Yeah.”

“Wait, why are we talking about East Hawkins?” you waited for an answer to come after Steve’s question, but instead of words, Max responded with a look on her face that made you incredibly anxious “No. No. No!”

“Max, we’re not going anywhere.” you stood up, trying to stop the kids from getting ready, but before you knew it you were running after Max who had walked out the basement door and headed straight for Steve’s car.

“Max! Max. Seriously. Seriously, we’re not joking, okay? I’m not driving you anywhere.” Steve’s tone was firm, but Max’s was firmer.

“If you two think I’m going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler’s basement, then you’re out of your minds. So, either take me where I need to go or you’re gonna have to tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor. And if I live to see another day, Steve, Y/N, I swear to God, I will prosecute.” she failed to open the car door, which made her even more frustrated “Open the door.”

“Uh, no.” Steve was assertive. You, not so much.

“I know a good lawyer.” Max glared at you. She knew you were the easy one to crack, especially when deep down you knew she was right.

“Open the car.” you told Steve, making him whip his head to stare at you.

“Y/n?”

“She scares me.” you explained and nodded towards the car, silently telling him to open it. He looked into your eyes for a second before sighing and doing as he was told.

“Henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach Pennhurst.” you got inside after he unlocked the car and placed yourself in the passenger’s seat “And you’re wondering why I wanted to go on team Pennhurst. If I’m gonna be bossed around, I would prefer it not be kids doing it.” Steve was mumbling under his breath, his words winning a chuckle out of you.

“Drive.” Max demanded.

“Fine!”

The first stop you made was to her and her mom’s trailer. It was easy to get there now since all the cop cars, ambulances, and reporters had disappeared. You waited longer than you would have liked but when you were ready to go search for her, she appeared as if out of thin air, instructing you to start the car without any explanation as to what had happened or where you were now heading.

She just kept giving you the directions as you went along your way. By the time you had realized where she was taking you, you didn’t know if it was the right choice to come here, but if this was what she felt she needed, then it was the correct one.

“I feel like I’m gonna throw up just sitting here.”

Just because it was the right choice didn’t mean it was easy for any of you. You couldn’t even imagine how Max was feeling.

“Yeah, me too. It’s been long enough.” Steve agreed with you, already taking off along with you to check on her.

“Please, just give her some time.” Lucas told you, but you wouldn’t listen, worry taking control over your body.

“I have, all right, Sinclair? I’m calling it. She wants to get a lawyer, she can.” Steve answered for the both of you.

As you walked up the mill, you began calling out for her “Max? Sweetheart, is everything okay?”

“Time to giddy up, Max, yeah?” you crouched before Max, Steve’s body a little behind you. He stood there waiting for a response from the redhead, but all he got was a gasp and a cry for help coming out of your mouth.

Vecna had Max.

That’s all you could think about. Panic filled you as you and Steve tried to snap her out of the trance he had put her in. Watching Max’s still body and her blank eyes made your insides do flips.

Steve eventually calls out for the kids to come and help. After seeing that shaking your friend’s body is unhelpful, you tell Dustin to go and quickly call Nancy and Robin, to see if they have found anything useful.

It wasn’t long before your brother returned, carrying something in his arms. He let the stuff fall to the ground, in front of Max. It was then that you realized he had brought you Max’s Walkman and some of her music.

“What is this?” Lucas questioned, unable to guess how this would help at all.

“Her song. What’s her favorite song?” Dustin asked him, his voice raised.

“Why? Why?”

“Robin said if- if she listens- It’s too much to explain right now. What’s her favorite song?” Dustin was yelling at this point, making your brain go blank.

“It’s here. It’s right here! I got it!” luckily Lucas found the tape, and passed it to Steve, who put it in her Walkman. You placed the headphones on her head and signaled for Dustin to hit play.

You waited for something to happen but still tried calling out to her. However, when her body began lifting up in the air, you all lost your voices. You stood up, your eyes never leaving her levitating body. You yelled out her name again and again, desperately trying to wake her up.

After feeling like you were screaming for an eternity, Max’s body surrendered to gravity and fell to the ground, quickly coming out of the trance scared and panicked. Lucas took her into his arms to calm her down.

“Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished. You there? Dustin, can you hear me? Dustin?”

Your eyes fluttered open when a voice interrupted your slumber. You lifted your head up, trying to focus on the voice. You were sleeping uncomfortably on one of the armchairs, while Steve was sleeping even more uncomfortably on the floor next to you, his back supported by the armchair.

It wasn't hard to let sleep take over you after the eventful day you had yesterday, but the sleep felt short, so you were cursing the person who was right now interrupting your one moment of calm.

“Earth to Dustin.” you looked around the room to locate the noise and when you realized it was coming out of the walkie-talkie, you rushed forward to answer Eddie, careful to not knock Steve’s head.

“Yeah, Eddie, it’s Y/n.” your voice was harsh, so you slightly coughed to get it back to normal.

“The other Henderson! Hey. Um, I’m gonna need a food delivery, like, really soon, unless you want me going out into the world.” Eddie told you but you shook your head at his words.

“No. No, no, no. Don’t do that. Stay there, and we’ll come as fast as we can.” you heard a groan from your right and you looked over to see Nancy waking up due to your talking. You gave her a quick smile before focusing back on Eddie’s voice.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, um… can you pick me up a six-pack? I know, it’s stupid as shit, drinking right now, but uh… cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves.”

You opened your mouth to agree with his request, but Nancy spoke up, catching your attention “Hey. Where’s Max?” your head whipped around to look at the couch Max was supposed to be sleeping on, finding it empty.

“Sure, um… I have to go…” you turned the radio off and shook your brother’s body.

“Dustin!” the boy just groaned “Wake up.”

“What?” Dustin asked, his whole body jerking him awake. In the process, his head rolled back and hit the TV making him groan again. You rolled your eyes, Nancy taking the detective role.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on Max watch?”

“Yep. Yep, yep, yep. Sorry.” Dustin rubbed his eyes, forcing himself to wake up.

“Okay, well- Then where is she?” you questioned.

“She’s right there.” Dustin answered quickly, for a moment thinking you were dumb for not seeing that Max was right there, but his eyes widened when he saw the makeshift bed empty, realizing he had screwed up “A second ago. I swear, I just dozed off for…” he checked his watched and cringed “… an hour.”

“Shit.” you exclaimed and got up to look for Max. Nancy followed behind you. Your first thought was to get out of the basement and search the entire house. Luckily you didn’t have to get more stressed, because when you entered the kitchen you saw that Max was as safe and sound as she could be at the Wheeler’s residence, sitting with Holly at the kitchen table, drawing.

“Morning, girls. Everything okay?” Karen, Nancy’s mom, asked you. She had the sweetest smile on her face. You nodded your head at her question even though it was a lie.

“Yeah. Yeah, everything’s okay.” Nancy answered her mother. Dustin was now with you after exiting the basement, looking at the breakfast Karen had prepared.

“I think it’s so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this.” the woman told you, but your attention was focused on Max who had just noticed you.

“Could try sticking together at a different house for a change.” you ignored Mr. Wheeler’s snide comment and headed over to the table, sitting opposite Max and next to Nancy.

“Hey.” the girl said after removing the headphones from her ears.

“Hi. You okay?” you asked with a soft voice.

“Just couldn’t sleep. People kept blasting music in my ears for some reason.” you both chuckled a little at her joke “But Holly let me borrow some of her crayons. We’ve been having fun, right, Holly?” the little girl hummed but was clearly not paying a lot of attention to the three of you, focusing on her own toy.

“Is this… what you saw last night?” Nancy pointed at the red drawings filling the wooden table.

“I mean, it’s supposed to be. I thought it’d be easier to draw it out than to explain it, but… not so much.”

“Is that?” Nancy couldn’t finish the question, just took the drawing in her hands. You leaned over to take a look, your eyes widening when you realized who she had drawn.

“It was like they were on display or something.” the girl could not shake the memory from her mind, seeing Chrissy and Fred’s bodies like this was unforgettable “And then there was this red fog everywhere. It was like a dream. A nightmare.” Max explained, her eyes almost distant.

“Do you think it was on purpose? Trying to scare you?” you asked her.

“With Billy? Yeah. But when I made it here… I dunno, something was different. He seemed surprised, almost.” you took a glance to your left and saw Dustin sit next to you, his plate filled with pancakes “Like he didn’t want me there.”

“Maybe you infiltrated his mind. He invaded your mind, right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his? Like Freddie Krueger’s boiler room.” Dustin suggested and Holly’s head lifted up, his words catching her attention.

“Freddie Krueger?” the small girl questioned.

“He’s a super burned-up dude with razors for fingers. And he kills you in your dreams.” Dustin told her like it was not a big deal to say something like that to a girl.

“Dustin! Seriously?” Nancy told your brother who, after taking a look at your scolding face, realized that what he had said was wrong.

“Sorry. It’s a movie. It’s not real.” he said to Holly and quickly got back into the matter at hand “Just… think about it. What if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to Vecna’s world? Like, maybe the answer we’re looking for is…” he took one of the drawings in his hands “…somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing. God, we need Will.”

“Yeah, no shit. But I tried them all this morning and it’s the same usual busy signal.” Max complained.

Dustin placed down the paper he had grabbed and your eyes landed on it while the rest talked. Something about it felt familiar to you, and when you realized how, a gasp fell from your lips.

“Nancy?” the girl hummed at the mention of her name “Doesn’t this look like…” your finger pointed at the sketch. Nancy grabbed the paper when she saw it.

“Is this a window?” she asked Max, who nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Stained glass with roses.” you told Nancy, the gears already turning in her head.

“Yeah. See? I’m not so terrible after all.” Max said.

“Yeah, well, it helps that we’ve seen it before.” Nancy began aligning the papers to make out the image you had in your heads. She took one of the markers from the table and lined out the outlines of the house that had formed from the drawings.

“It’s pieces of a house.” Max said in realization.

“Not just any house. It’s Victor Creel’s house.” you looked at them, your words widening their eyes.

You stole a glance at Nancy, before you both got up from your seats.

“Where are you going?” Dustin asked Nancy, his mouth full of pancakes.

“Waking the others.” Nancy answered him.

You made your way back to the basement, your first stop being Steve.

“Get up. Get up. Get up.” you shook his shoulder. A groan left his lips.

“Just five more minutes.” he tried to sway your hand away, but you continued to shake him.

“Now.”

He recognized the seriousness in your voice so he opened his eyes, even if the light hurt them “Hey, what’s the matter?”

“We have a lead, so we need to go. Now!”

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