Hi there! My name is Pie and I love writing. I’ve been an AoT fan almost since the anime first came out. It’s undoubtedly my favourite so I mostly write content for it but I'm also very much into HOTD, LOTR, Marvel, Stranger Things, Avatar and some other great shows and movies so expect to find my works on them too ^^
Without any more delay:
Welcome to my Academia! Feel free to visit each and every nook and cranny and see where each door leads to~
Requests:: CLOSED
Fluff = ♡ Angst = ♢
➤ || Marks || ♡♢
Sometimes you hated those scars so much, letting insecurities wash over you and allow self-hate to take place. But Levi was always there to remind you how beautiful you were.
➤ || You Are Worth It || ♡♢
You were ready to do anything for this man and if that meant defending him from your own comrades, then so be it.
➤ || Quick || ♡
A quick way to break someone’s jaw. Because nobody disrespected you and got to live.
➤ || See You In a Minute || ♢
You took a bullet that wasn’t supposed to be for you and that resulted in catastrophic consequences.
➤ || A Break || ♢♡
Levi tries to push you away because he wants you to find the peace and happiness you have always sought, away from the bloodshed. But he should’ve known this would be a mistake. And he should’ve known you would always find each another and stick together.
➤ || A Way of Mourning || ♡
Levi didn’t mean to hurt you and he felt so horrible about it. But you were there to reassure him and show your forgiveness.
➤ || Nail To The Coffin || ♡ ♢
Y/N Byers wondered what would end up being the death of the small town she lived in. She never expected that the last nail on the coffin would be hammered by monsters from another dimension who would end up hunting down her friends and family one by one...
The lives of the popular seemed to be more complicated and there was more to you - the most popular girl in school - than what met the eye. // an early 2000′s, chick-flick story
Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3
➤ || We Cough Blood and We Drink Wine || ♢ ♡
You have spent years separated from your father. Now, when you have the chance to finally be a family, Thanos wants to destroy everything and harm your loved ones. You’d rather rot in hell than let anyone harm them in any way. You march into the battle against the Mad Titan and things don’t end well for any of you.
You are Tony’s daughter. He had no idea that you existed because your mother had taken you away before you were even born. Later on, you were taken by HYDRA, but you’d always known who your father was. The thought of finally meeting him and living happily with him was what kept you alive during all these years in HYDRA. When you finally manage to escape after everyone gets snapped away, you go to Tony. You spend five years with him. You get the life you wanted. But then he is suddenly gone and you feel…nothing.You try to cope with your beloved father’s demise and in the end, you manage to pull through and have your happy and peaceful ending… with a bit of a twist.
➤ || Together || ♢ ♡
Something horrible happens to you and Tony isn’t there to protect you as he’d sworn to. Now you have to get through it together.
“You cannot use your powers like this. Do you want to freeze to death?” scolded quietly Pietro as he lifted you in his arms and brought you as close as possible, sipping warmth and comfort through your body. Frost. There was frost forming, slowly crawling from the tips of your fingers up your hands.
Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4
➤ || Dear Dad, || ♡ ♢
When a strange girl with enhanced abilities catches the eye of Nick Fury and he sends one of the Avengers to bring her under his protection, how will things turn out for them? She is… odd. There’s something mysterious - a hidden backstory. She’s wrapped securely in a seashell that starts shedding piece by piece. And inside? It’s not a pearl.
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The way I see it, Art has two functions: escapism and confrontation. It serves as both a sanctuary and a mirror. Through escapism, Art creates landscapes where burdens dissolve, where the ordinary is transformed into the extraordinary. It reminds us of the boundless beauty that is preserved in the world and the immense potential that we harbor. It paints a picture of what could be.
But Art also confronts. It grips us by the shoulders, demanding that we open our eyes to the raw, unadorned reality of existence. It challenges the lies we tell ourselves and the illusions we construct, and forces us to reckon with the depths of our humanity. In confrontation, Art becomes the wound that refuses to heal until we take care of it. With its blood and pus, Art paints a picture of what is.
Though it might seem so, these functions are not opposites — they are intertwined; a good piece of art achieves not just a balance but a fusion, where escapism and confrontation become two edges of the same sword. This dual-edged nature is what gives Art its power. The escapist edge whispers of what the world should be; the confrontational edge reveals what the world truly is.
A sword with one dull edge is incomplete, blunt and purposeless, and, certainly, a useless weapon against any enemy, leaving its wielder defenseless and vulnerable in the face of danger. In the same way, Art that leans too heavily on either escapism or confrontation becomes unbalanced. Pure escapism is shallow and hollow; it risks becoming an empty distraction. Pure confrontation, on the other hand, risks alienating and overwhelming the audience without offering hope.
Hence why I believe that “The Lord of the Rings” shall never lose its relevance, as long as humankind endures. It is a perfect example of such a sword, forged to become a timeless masterpiece. On one hand, it offers an escape into a meticulously crafted world — a place where our imagination soars, lifting us from the ground, holding us gently under the arms, and flying us high above our reality. And in that flight, we gain the perspective of a bird, seeing the world in its entirety: the beauty and the terror, all at once. For at its heart, LOTR is a profound confrontation with the deepest truths of human existence and the human experience. It is a mirror and a guide — a manual of sorts, on how to remain human in a world that conspires to make you less.
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There is still hope. Say it out loud. Palestine will be free. The Palestinian people will celebrate their culture and heritage with each other. We will love and be loved. Do not fall into the trap of despair.
I'm not saying this just for morale. I'm saying this as a reminder that the colonialist regime relies on your despair, uses it to further their propaganda. Once you lose hope, and tell everyone you lose hope, you are aiding the Zionist Entity.
Make it a point that you BELIEVE that Palestine will be free even in the face of genocide. Hope can halt genocide. Do not aid our oppressors.
Your heart was thumping loudly and the fear and anxiety were making it harder for you to keep the oxygen trapped in your lungs. It wanted to break free and you knew you had to hurry before you got overwhelmed and hit by a panic attack because if it happened underwater, you were surely going to suffer quite the consequences.
Thankfully, the red glowing portal was getting closer and closer, and before long you were breaking through it and crawling out on the other side, gasping for air.
It took you a moment to gather your bearings as you sputtered and tried to stand up, only for something to tackle you on the ground. You managed to catch it instinctively and keep it at enough distance. It screeched in your face and you could only describe it as a mutated bat.
“Y/N!” yelled Steve as you struggled to keep the creature at bay and you turned your head to look at where the sound had come from, noticing your boyfriend on the ground not too far from you, battling to keep the bats away just like you.
Your eyes widened when you saw that one of the monsters had wrapped its tail around his throat and he couldn’t swat away the others because he was too busy keeping the tail from choking him.
And just like that, something switched in you. It’s like someone snapped their fingers and you were overtaken by hot rage, determination, and protectiveness.
The bat you had been holding with your hands and preventing from biting your face off you decided to tuck closer to your body instead and squash it against your chest in order to immobilize it. You were able to roll around and squish it even more underneath you, putting the whole weight of your body on top of it. Your eyes searched the ground frantically and glimmered with delight when you noticed a big rock nearby. You reached out, arm stretching so much you were surprised it didn’t pop, and grazed it with your fingers, managing to shift it a bit until you were able to grab it. You didn’t hesitate to crack open the head of the wriggling creature with it.
When you made sure it was dead, and you were finally free, getting on all fours and regaining proper movement, you could finally focus on your struggling boyfriend. And when you saw that the bats had managed to tear through his flesh, you saw red.
You leaped forward and grabbed one of them by the tail, pulling it away from Steve as you stood up. Planting your feet on the ground so the monster couldn’t jerk you around too much, you let out an angry shout and whirled, slamming it against a boulder with such force that it fell dead in an instant.
At that very moment, another monster flew towards you with such velocity that it sent you hurtling back on the ground, and much like the one holding Steve down, it wrapped its tail around your wrist and began flying which resulted in you being dragged because it couldn’t lift you off the ground, you were much heavier after all, but you supposed its goal was to prevent you from standing up and fighting so wriggling you around and not allowing you to wrench free or reach it was enough for it. And truthfully, even if you tried reaching with your free hand, the jerking movements were preventing you from properly grabbing its tail or reaching into your back pocket where you held a pocket knife. It didn’t help that a friend of it joined and all but latched itself onto your leg, sinking its claws and teeth in your flesh, causing you to yell in pain, anger, and helplessness.
You didn’t even register Steve calling out your name when you got dragged right past him until you felt something grab your ankle and you looked down, only to see that Steve had grabbed you, his arm stretched painfully. He was going to dislocate his shoulder if he kept his hold on you but you could see in his eyes that he didn’t care. All he wanted was to help you even though it was harming him in the process.
Thanks to him halting the jerking movements, to a point, you were able to finally reach your pocket knife. With a quick press of the small button, the blade sprung out of its lair, and with a swift swing, you sliced through the thinnest part of the tail and cut it off. The bat screeched in pain and flew off, allowing you to move once again.
You completely ignored the one latched onto your thigh, biting you, and stood up, limping your way to your boyfriend and grabbing the bat that had its tail wrapped around his neck. The moment you took hold of the creature, an oar entered your periphery vision and you trailed it as it smashed the other bat that was biting Steve’s side. Your head snapped to look at the person, surprised to see it was Eddie and behind him, Nancy and Robin were standing up after crawling through the portal, looking just as angry and menacing as the boy.
You let out a hiss when the bat bit you on the face and let go instinctively, hand flying to nurse the aching spot on your cheek. The girls immediately took your place as one pinned the tail to the ground and the other began hitting it but just then, more of them came in. One latched onto Nancy’s back and another attacked Eddie. Thankfully, he was able to hit it with the oar and it flew against a boulder, falling dead. But Nancy didn’t have that luck and Robin had to rush to help her get it off her back.
In the meantime, you were about to return to Steve and help him but he somehow managed to find a way to wriggle out of the bat’s tail. He grabbed it and scuffled his way into standing up while the creature tried to fly off and jerked him around, but when he finally did stand up, he let out an angry shout and slammed it against the ground once, twice, thrice, even after it had died.
Meanwhile, Eddie noticed the pocked knife you had dropped and grabbed it, hurrying to your side and stabbing the creature in the head, causing it to finally let go of your thigh and fall dead at your feet.
All five of you wheezed, lungs burning for oxygen, bodies aching all over as every muscle, joint, and ligament stung from overexertion. But God, was it satisfying and worth it after you saw the dead bats on the ground and the others flying away.
“Jesus H. Christ!” exclaimed Eddie as he threw the broken oar and it clattered against the rocks.
“Steve,” you breathed out as you limped towards him and grabbed his face in your hands, looking him over. “Are you alright? Does it hurt? Fuck, of course, it does! My God, we need to patch you up,” you rambled as you saw the scarred tissue on his neck, then your eyes moved down to inspect his torso but he lifted your chin before they could. You looked at him in bewilderment that only doubled when you saw the tender smile he was giving you and the only thought that was running through your head was that you had to treat his wounds and get the hell out of this place.
“Hey,” he spoke softly. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay. Take a breath,” he guided you and you listened, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly. “It’s just a couple of bites. I’ve had worse,” he tried to calm you down and you shut your eyes, head lulling forward, and he mirrored you so your foreheads touched.
“Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?” sounded Robin’s concerned voice and you looked at her weirdly, not moving away from Steve’s touch.
“What?”
“It’s just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear and I think we should get you two to a doctor really soon, because once symptoms set in, it’s too late. You’re already dead,” she pointed out shakily and there was silence for a moment until it was interrupted by the sound of multiple screeching bats in the distance.
“Guys, we gotta get outta here,” commented Eddie frantically as you turned to look at the coming monsters but before you could even take a step towards the gate, they were already landing around it, creating a barrier between you and it, and screeching defensively.
“Okay, there’s not that many,” said Steve hopefully. “We can take ‘em.”
But just as he spoke, you saw a whole swarm in the distance of what was probably hundreds of bats flying towards you.
“Ooh, I think that plan just crashed and burned,” you whispered.
“The woods,” pointed Nancy. “C’mon!”
Steve grabbed you by the hand and didn’t hesitate to start running, almost making you stumble, and all of you prayed that you’d make it in time to hide.
“C’mon,” gasped your boyfriend as he dragged you behind him and you tried your best to keep up.
Thankfully, you managed to reach Skull Rock before the swarm of bats reached you and used it as shelter, hiding under the looming rocks while the creatures were flying somewhere above your location, unable to come down in the woods and get to you.
In the end, they gave up and left you alone.
“That was close,” commented Eddie after he and Robin left the protectiveness of the rocks and stared off in the distance as if they could spot the retreating creatures.
“Yeah.”
“Shit,” let out your boyfriend as he stumbled right after standing up, his hand flying to use the stone wall as support so he wouldn’t fall down. It was clear he was exhausted and it was more so because he was wounded, not because he fought a demo-bat and ran a long distance. Your boy was tough. But he wasn’t invincible.
“Steve!?” you exclaimed worriedly as you ran to his side and grabbed him by the arms to steady him before slowly lowering him to sit on a rock. “Jesus!”
“I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“Nuh-uh, don’t play this game with me. I know when you’re, in fact, not fine. You’re losing blood,” you spoke shakily as you hurried to take your bag off your back and rummage through it. You always carried your bag and ever since the first incident with the Demogorgon, you always packed it with all necessities like a bottle of clean water, bandages, disinfectant, and more.
“Alright, doc,” he let out a huff and smiled brokenly and you shook your head at him.
“Here, let me clean this,” you murmured as you unclasped the bottle of water and poured some over his wounds, making him hiss when you ran a cloth over them to wipe blood and debris, and he had to grit his teeth when afterward you dabbed some disinfectant onto them. “There, there. We’re almost done,” you spared a moment so he could catch his breath before you began bandaging his lower torso. The bandages were quite damp because some water managed to get in your usually tightly shut leather bag but that wasn’t that big of a problem.
“You were brilliant out there,” he uttered out a compliment and you smiled, hands still working on him. “The way you took down not one but two of these assholes,” he shook his head in amazement and pride. “And you were going to take out a third if you hadn’t gotten distracted.”
“Perhaps,” you let out a breathy chuckle and he watched you with admiration for a while before he lifted his hand, placed it on your cheek, and let his fingers gently stroke your skin and the scratch it now donned thanks to the little monster. “You were just as amazing. You were able to keep three of those sons of bitches at bay and in the end smashed one of them. You even risked asphyxiation and getting more hurt in order to help me which is something I’m deeply thankful for,” you finished tying the bandages and finally looked him in the eyes properly, giving him a proud, grateful smile. “You never cease to amaze me,” you chuckled and his smile grew before you brushed some fallen strands away from his face and leaned to place a long, tender kiss on his forehead. He shut his eyes and savored the feeling, his arms running up and down your back and bringing you closer so he could hug you, his head resting on your shoulder.
“I got so scared when you got pulled under,” you whispered against his hair and he hummed. “My heart almost burst,” you confessed and his hold on you tightened.
“And you jumped right after me. You didn’t waste a second. Silly girl,” he pulled away to look at you, expression full of distress and eyes full of restless concern gazed into yours. “You could’ve gotten in serious trouble. Not like we’re not deep enough in shit already but it could’ve been worse. What if Vecna had-”
“I would never abandon you,” you interrupted him steadfastly. “I don’t care about the possibilities. They are just ‘what-ifs’ that I couldn’t care less about. When it comes to priorities, you’re first. So I’ll risk anything to come to you when you need me most. Besides,” the smile bloomed once again. “It’s always better when we’re together. It’s like…there’s hope in the air. Like we can do anything.”
“Touche,” was the only thing he could say before he motioned for you to give him your bag and you furrowed your eyebrows but did so either way.
“What do you need?”
“I need…to stop you from bleeding out,” he pointed out and you finally looked down at your thigh, noticing the leaking blood.
Only now, when the adrenaline was leaving your system after you got to a shelter and made sure Steve was safe and tended to, did you actually pay attention to the way you were feeling faint. In fact, you’ve been feeling dazed since you finished tying the bandages around Steve and fell into his embrace. You just realized it now because this feeling was increasing by the minute.
“I think it might have punctured the-the, uh, the fermal artery or something,” he rushed to expand the tear in your jeans that the bat had made and pour some water to clean the blood, only for more to come out of the small wound and it was concerning and irritating as hell.
“You mean to say the femoral artery,” you grunted when he began wrapping up your tight and he nodded.
“Y-yeah, that’s what I meant.”
“Oh, leave the name, I’m proud that you know its location and significance,” you chuckled through grit teeth and he let out an awkward smile.
He, in fact, did not know the name or the location. He just knew that the blood wouldn’t stop leaking, followed where it was coming from, and had some vague remnants of biology knowledge run in his brain and alert him. Ever since you began dating he’s been studying some things in his free time for the sole purpose of impressing you but he never seemed to remember stuff accurately and he would often get distracted. Studying and memorizing paragraphs of dry information wasn’t exactly his forte but he still tried his best.
“We should get out of here as fast as possible and get you to a hospital,” intervened Nancy with a worried look and you waved her off.
“It’s okay, Nance. It’s not a big puncture wound or tear. All it needs is some tight bandages to stop the blood loss, some rest to replenish the one I already lost, and I’ll be fine,” you explained. “Although, my leg is sort of numb right now. It’s gonna take a couple of hours before I can use it normally,” you groaned.
“And since when did you become such an expert?” Robin lifted an eyebrow and you shrugged.
“Since all the people in my life and I began getting hurt every year…on more than one occasion.”
“Fair point.”
“I can’t believe that we’re actually here,” wheezed Eddie from the top of a rock. “After everything that I’ve heard about this place. Feels like a fever dream.”
“Enjoying the vacay?” you teased and he rolled his eyes.
“So, uh…this place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?” asked Robin.
“Pretty much,” you groaned as Nancy helped you stand up and steadied you, wrapping an arm around your waist and holding your hand with her free one.
Eddie was about to head down in order to help Steve but when he almost stepped on a vine, you and Nancy shouted out at the same time.
“Watch out for the vines!”
“Uh, right, it’s a hive mind,” the boy shot his hands in the air and smiled wobbly. “If you step on a vine, you step on Vecna, right? Sorry,” he apologized and proceeded to carefully get down before he went to Steve and helped him get up. “I got ya, big boy.”
“Thanks, man. Y/N/N, you good?” asked your boyfriend and you gave him a thumbs up.
“Nance has got me.”
“A-and what do I do? T-to help?” asked Robin and you smiled at her.
“You can be our eyes and help us navigate better so we don’t…step on Vecna,” you turned to send Eddie a look and lift your eyebrow and he stuck his tongue out at you.
“Alright, give me your flashlights. I shall be your lighthouse in this wild sea of monsters,” she proclaimed dramatically and all of you snorted.
“Hold on…we’re all set to go and all…but where are we going… exactly?” questioned Steve.
“Well, uhm, if the Upside Down is the same as Hawkins, that means everything from our world is still here, right? Except people,” pointed out Robin. “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 waved her hand.
“Yeah, I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin,” sighed Steve. “But guns, yeah, sure.”
“No, hold on…we don’t have to go all the way downtown for guns,” interfered Nancy. “I have guns in my bedroom and my house isn’t far from here.”
“You,” pointed Eddie. “Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural…in your bedroom?”
“I had no choice but to learn and start using them since I got dragged into the whole… monster-hunting thing,” she shrugged and you chuckled.
“Ah, we used to call it monster hunting back then, didn’t we? Good old times,” you winked at her and she smiled.
“She-” Steve thrust his finger in her direction. “-almost shot me with one of those.”
“Knowing what you were like back then, you probably deserved it,” you snorted and Steve’s jaw fell to the ground in astoundment.
“Here you go,” interrupted Eddie as he took off his denim vest and handed it to Steve. “For your modesty, dude.”
“Thanks, man,” they high-fived casually and you smiled warmly at the way they were getting along. Their bond has strengthened so much since their first meeting and you were so happy to see them being this close.
But suddenly, sinister growling echoed throughout the very atmosphere and the ground beneath shook so badly that all of you lost balance and fell down. You could even hear the sound of stone cracking which was accompanied by the screeching of the mutated bats.
“Yeah, so, guns seem like a pretty good idea to me,” gulped Eddie from his position on the ground, petrified.
“Yeah, me too,” agreed Robin as she and everyone else slowly got back on your feet.
“Well, I gotta say that was quite macabre,” you cleared your throat as you gripped Nancy for support, using her as a crutch. “And not in a good way,” you drawled and the girl hummed in agreement before you began walking.
“Macabre?” echoed Steve and Eddie as they looked at you confoundedly and then at each other.
“It’s just another word for ‘creepy’, dinguses. Enrichen your dictionaries some more,” snorted Robin before she turned on the flashlight and followed after you and Nancy.
“Must’ve skipped that literature class,” groaned Steve quietly, embarrassed, and Eddie patted him on the back.
“But at least you got the ‘biology knowledge’, don’t you, king Stevie,” winked Eddie mischievously and Steve gave him an ‘are you serious right now?’ look.
Needless to say, you eventually found your way out of the woods and reached the Wheelers’ house.
“Well, this looks cozy,” commented Robin. “But you really need a maid, Wheeler.”
“C’mon…I don’t wanna stay here longer than I have to,” she said before she turned to face you, her arms still holding you and helping you walk, or rather hobble, due to you still being unable to fully use your leg because of the blood loss and circulation that needed to get better. “Will you be okay if I let go?” she asked and you nodded.
“I’ll be fine, no problem.”
“Hey, I can take over. It’s okay,” intervened Steve as he came to your side and took Nancy’s place. “I’m feeling much better, don’t worry about it,” he reassured you once he saw your concerned, questioning stare and you sighed, accepting his help.
But while the others began climbing the stairs quickly, you and Steve took it a bit slower, causing you to linger more in the room which in turn allowed you to hear a faint, familiar voice.
“Do you hear what I’m hearing?” asked the boy and you nodded.
“I think I do…I can only hope it’s what I think it is but we’ll come back to check on it later. Now let’s go to the others.”
Steve quickly grabbed you by the waist and lifted you slightly off the ground, making you let out a soft squeal before he hurriedly climbed the stairs and let you down again.
“Well, that took me off guard,” you huffed and he chuckled before you entered Nancy’s room, only to find her and the others staring dumbly at a shoebox. “What is it?” you asked and the girl turned to face you, full of confusion.
“I don’t understand…”
“Maybe you left them somewhere else?” offered Eddie while you and Steve got closer to the trio and peeked over Robin’s shoulder, noticing that the box was occupied by a pair of pointy heels and there were no guns in sight.
“There’s a six-year-old in the house,” she snapped. “I know where I keep my guns. And also…I threw these away years ago.”
“Uh, Nance,” Steve drew her attention and she looked at him, only to see him stare at something in utter bewilderment and unrest, making her follow his gaze and notice a couple of oddly familiar papers that weren’t supposed to be here.
“These are from sophomore chemistry,” she whispered as she read through them and your eyes widened while hers looked around the room frantically. “This…This wallpaper, this is old wallpaper and old posters,” she pointed at the wall in front of her and your breath hitched as you began putting two and two together. “And this mirror!? This went to a yard sale. And you…you’re not supposed to be here,” she muttered as she grabbed a stuffed animal from her bed. “No, I gave you to cousin Johanna two years ago!”
You let out a shaky sigh, hands running over your face. You began forming a theory the moment Nancy began spouting about the heels and the chemistry papers but you didn’t want it to be true because if it was, it would make the situation much more complicated. Maybe not for now but in the near future.
And then your eyes landed on a small calendar with a pinned date - November 6, 1983.
The papers, the mirror, the stuffed animal, the posters - they were all supposed to be here. They were all exactly where they belonged.
You weren’t.
“Great, so not only do we not have guns now, but we’re stuck in a world that’s not even on the same timeline as ours,” rambled Robin with a slight tremble to her tone and you sighed as you held onto Steve who had lifted you once again so you could climb down the stairs faster.
“Add that to the list of things we have yet to figure out about The Upside Down and its lovely residents,” you quipped as you motioned for Steve to set you down and once he did, you looked around and tried to concentrate on the faint voice you had heard. “But for now, can we focus on something else? I think that someone is speaking.”
“Someone is speaking?”
“Yeah, before we joined you guys in the room, we heard the echo of voices-”
“It’s Dustin!” exclaimed Steve and you did a double-take at how fast he was at recognizing the voice. “Dustin! Can you hear me!?” screamed the boy as he paced around the room. “Dustin!? Hello? He-Hello!?”
“Steve,” you called out with a deadpanned expression and he halted. “He’s not going to hear you,” you shook your head and everyone furrowed their eyebrows.
“I am soo lost right now,” drawled Eddie.
“Look, when you’re in the Upside Down, you can hear the people on the other side but they can’t hear you,” you explained as you limped towards the big chandelier. “Will used to communicate with Mom through the lights and that one time when I came here to look for him, I found out how he did it and used it to communicate with Nancy and Jonathan…only they weren’t there to see it.”
“I’m sorry,” mouthed Nancy and you gave her an ‘it’s ok’ look.
“So, we can hear Dustin and the others now? Because they’re in the house in our world?” asked Eddie and you nodded. “But we can only communicate through…lights?”
“Do you see those particles?” you asked as you outstretched your arm, wishing to make contact with the amber current. “I think that this is an electric charge.”
“A what?” interrupted Eddie and you sighed, hands dropping down to your side.
“Electric charge is a physical characteristic of matter that causes a force to develop when it is in close proximity to other electrically charged matter,” you gesticulated as you explained. “Electric charge can be positive or negative. Objects with the same charge are subject to a force that repels them from each other, and those with a different charge - to a force that attracts them to each other. An electric charge creates an electromagnetic field and the electromagnetic field can be defined as light since it propagates at the speed of light,” you crossed your arms as your gaze shifted from the baffled expressions of your friends to the particles floating around the chandelier and every other source of light. “I believe that the electromagnetic field of our world has formed a connection to the one of this world. Perhaps they collided and intertwined when Eleven opened the gate and this world began bleeding into ours. Perhaps the force of the field grew and it became more corporeal,” you reached out once again. “In fact, it became tangible enough that you’re able to touch and manipulate it,” your hand finally made the contact you wished for and the whole chandelier began glowing.
“Whoa!” exclaimed Eddie and Robin at once and Nancy shook her head with an amazed smile.
“Have I ever said that you’re absolutely brilliant!?” proclaimed Steve as he rushed to your side and grabbed you by the arms, shaking you just a tad bit. He was so giddy he reminded you of an excited puppy. “You’re brilliant, baby! Amazing!” he planted a bit too-aggressive kiss on your temple and you chuckled.
“Thank you, but now back on track,” you focused your attention back on the chandelier and everyone joined you, surrounding it. “Let’s send them a signal,” you suggested and everyone cautiously raised their arms and made contact with the field, making the chandelier beam even stronger. It was a rather pleasant tingling sensation.
“It…tickles,” commented Steve with a smile and you hummed.
“It kinda feels good,” added Robin and Eddie shot her a teasing look.
“Hey, you said you followed Vecna through lights, right?” you heard Erica’s voice and concluded that she most probably had seen the flickering lights you were causing. “‘Cause I think he’s here.”
“Oh, no, they’re gonna think we’re Vecna or-or some other monster,” groaned Steve, and Nancy bit her lip.
“Does anyone know Morse Code?” she asked and you nodded.
“A bit, yes. I began learning after Will got flayed.”
“Then let’s send them a message.”
After you sent a confirmation to Dustin and the others, they told you to meet them back in Nancy’s room and that they’d bring something through which you could talk normally.
“What is it gonna be? An Ouija board?” snorted Robin and everyone shared a short laugh while making your way to the room.
True to Dustin’s word, not long after you saw glowy particles appear over Nancy’s bed that were sort of lined in a way that represented a square.
“That must be Holly’s Lite-Brite,” let out Nancy in amazement and you smiled.
“Of course, he’ll always think of a way.”
“Write something,” urged you Steve and you traced your finger over the light.
HI
“Hi!”
“Hey!” greeted Lucas and Erica simultaneously.
“That worked!” exclaimed Dustin and all of you relaxed and filled with joy.
“Yes! Yes!” shouted Eddie and thrust his fist victoriously. “Hi!”
“Okay,” you let out a puff of air as you shifted a bit and made yourself more comfortable. “S…T…U…C…K,” you wrote next.
“Stuck!?”
“Mhm.”
“Yes, yes we are!”
“They’re stuck in the Upside Down!” clarified Lucas.
“Uh, you can’t get back through Watergate?” asked Dustin.
“What the hell’s Watergate?” Steve’s eyebrows furrowed and Robin shot him a look.
“‘Cause it’s in the water and it’s a gate.”
“Oh…that’s cute.”
“I wish we could,” you chirped as you wrote, “GUARDED”.
“Okay, uh, Watergate’s guarded. Listen, we think we have a theory that can help with that!” comforted you the boy and all of you let out sighs of relief.
“Genius child,” uttered Robin.
“We think Watergate isn’t the only gate. That there’s a gate at every murder site!” he disclosed and you shut your eyes as you resisted the urge to smack yourself.
“Fucking hell,” you grit out. “Of course, there’d be a gate at every murder site. Like, the one at Lover’s Lake didn’t just appear out of thin air. It opened right after Patrick died,” you threw your hand in the air before you dropped it back onto the bed. “Dustin is a genius for figuring it out this quick. Back then, the Demogorgon would come into our world to hunt. It opened gates at different sites where it hunted. When creatures from the other world impacted ours they always left traces. The only difference now is that those traces - the gates - aren’t just temporary like the ones made by the Demogorgon, but rather, they linger, and there’s a high chance that they might become permanent if we don’t deal with Vecna soon,” you finished uneasily and the others groaned.
“Great. That’s the only thing Hawkins is missing right now. Gates that monsters can pass through easily,” blurted out Robin and you rubbed your temple.
“Well then, let’s not wait for the grass to grow,” stated Steve. “Let’s go.”
“Go where exactly?” Eddie looked at him questioningly.
“The trailer park is the closest murder site, is it not?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so. Seven miles from here, I think,” nodded the boy.
“Great!”
“Nancy? Uh, I know your house here is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven’t you always had bikes?” inquired Robin, and the girl nodded. “Then let’s go get them.”
“You go prepare the bikes, I’ll just wrap it up here, tell the others where to meet up, and I’ll join you,” you motioned for them to go and they agreed, quickly leaving the room. Steve was the only one who stayed to wait for you. “Okay, so… M…E…E…T… U…S… A…T E…D…D…I…E…’S”
There had only been four bikes at Nancy’s but since you couldn’t use your leg efficiently, you wouldn’t have been able to ride one alone anyways, so you just got on Steve’s and let him do the job.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at our final destination. I hope you enjoyed the tour through Upside Down Resort,” proclaimed Eddie dramatically and you couldn’t help but smile at his efforts to diffuse the tension and fear.
“Why thank you,” answered Steve. “We did enjoy the sight-seeing of this jewel of a place, right honey?” he turned to look at you and you snorted, hand rubbing the side of your forehead.
“Oh, absolutely.”
All of you got off the bikes and rushed inside the trailer, bodies chilling to the bone when you saw the gleaming portal.
“This is where Chrissy died,” muttered Eddie, and you gulped, shoulders sagging. “Like, right where she died.” You didn’t even want to imagine her death or how utterly terrified she was, yet your mind pictured everything so vividly that it made you feel nauseous.
“I think there’s something in there,” pointed Robin, and you got a bit closer to the gate, noticing that there was in fact something on the other side, seemingly poking the membrane.
“If that’s not Dustin and the others, it’d be quite concerning,” you cringed when the membrane got pierced and fortunately for everyone, it was indeed Dustin and the others greeting you on the other side.
And they were all upside down too.
“No way,” uttered Steve as you got closer to the hole in the ceiling, and relief washed over you when you saw their grinning faces. You finally had a way out and all you could think about was going home, showering, and sleeping for hours.
“Hi there!” laughed Dustin as he and the others waved and you mirrored them.
“Hi!”
“Hey!”
“Holy shit, this is trippy,” uttered Robin, and you chuckled raspily.
“Indeed.”
After that, Lucas and Max proceeded to bring a mattress and placed it right under the gate.
“Those stains are, uh,” drawled Eddie as he shifted awkwardly. “I don’t know what those stains are.”
“Mhmm,” Robin shot him a knowing look accompanied by a smug smirk and he cleared his throat.
“Not quite sure how these physics work,” sighed Dustin as he fumbled with the sheets in his hands. But, uh…here goes nothing,” he exclaimed as he threw them up and half of them got sucked in by the gate, falling through and dangling in front of you. “And if my theory is correct,” grinned the boy as he let go but they didn’t budge. “Huh. Abracadabra!”
“Holy shit!”
“Alright, pull on it! See if it holds!” instructed Dustin and Robin let out a puff of air before she grabbed it and pulled with all her might.
“This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’ve seen some crazy shit,” exclaimed Erica.
Robin was the first to go. She climbed, went through the opening, and fell on the mattress on the other side.
“Ladies first,” Steve motioned with his hand. “Besides, we gotta help Y/N climb, cuz that leg-” he shook his head and tightened his lips instead of finishing the sentence and Nancy nodded before she began climbing, and soon after she was plopping onto the mattress on the other side.
“Well, I suggest we, uh, grab a chair,” described Eddie with mild gesticulation. “Put it here, then one of us climbs on it, and then the other will lift Y/N and hand her over so he can push her through the gate,” he finished with a nod as if he was proud he came up with such an idea.
“Sure,” shrugged Steve. “Sounds like a plan. Get ready, Y/N,” he said as he turned to face you but his eyes widened the moment they landed on you. “Y/N?”
Your own eyes had rolled to the back of your head and had turned pale blue in color. Your body was unmoving and never mind how much he called and shook you, you wouldn’t wake up.
Up until now, you’ve only dealt with vivid hallucinations, lucid dreams, and limbo states that Vecna haunted just for his own sick pleasure. You always ended up snapping out of them, or rather he always let you go.
But now he had taken it all a step further.
Now, he had taken over your mind completely and this time around, only music was going to save your soul.
“Y/N!”
Henry could only chuckle internally at the desperate shouts of Steve and Eddie echoing throughout the Upside Down. It brought him such immense pleasure. They would have to deal with your absence of mind for a while. You were his now.
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Nail To The Coffin - Prologue: Introducing Y/N Byers…
Summary: Y/N Byers wondered what would end up being the death of the small town she lived in. She never expected that the last nail on the coffin would be hammered by monsters from another dimension who would end up hunting down her friends and family one by one…
Warnings: None
Pairing: Steve Harrington x fem!Byers!Reader [potential Steddie x Reader]
Word Count: 4K
AN: I’m not sure what came over me suddenly but I really wanted to write this story. It’s not perfect by all means, a bit chaotic, but I hope you like it. I’d love to hear what you think and I’d be grateful if you leave reviews. Thank you~ <3
➤➤ You can find this story on my Ao3 if tumblr glitches - Pipess G
Masterlist || Chapter 1
It was just another dull day for everyone in Hawkins, Indiana. A day filled with your typical daily routines.
A dull day in a dull, small town where nothing ever happened…Right?
Hawkins School was bustling with students, the hallways filled to the brim as everyone gathered in groups for a chit chat before the beginning of the next period, exchanging notes, makeup, whatever you can think of that teenagers of the 80’s do during recess.
Your heart was thumping loudly and the fear and anxiety were making it harder for you to keep the oxygen trapped in your lungs. It wanted to break free and you knew you had to hurry before you got overwhelmed and hit by a panic attack because if it happened underwater, you were surely going to suffer quite the consequences.
Thankfully, the red glowing portal was getting closer and closer, and before long you were breaking through it and crawling out on the other side, gasping for air.
It took you a moment to gather your bearings as you sputtered and tried to stand up, only for something to tackle you on the ground. You managed to catch it instinctively and keep it at enough distance. It screeched in your face and you could only describe it as a mutated bat.
“Y/N!” yelled Steve as you struggled to keep the creature at bay and you turned your head to look at where the sound had come from, noticing your boyfriend on the ground not too far from you, battling to keep the bats away just like you.
Your eyes widened when you saw that one of the monsters had wrapped its tail around his throat and he couldn’t swat away the others because he was too busy keeping the tail from choking him.
And just like that, something switched in you. It’s like someone snapped their fingers and you were overtaken by hot rage, determination, and protectiveness.
The bat you had been holding with your hands and preventing from biting your face off you decided to tuck closer to your body instead and squash it against your chest in order to immobilize it. You were able to roll around and squish it even more underneath you, putting the whole weight of your body on top of it. Your eyes searched the ground frantically and glimmered with delight when you noticed a big rock nearby. You reached out, arm stretching so much you were surprised it didn’t pop, and grazed it with your fingers, managing to shift it a bit until you were able to grab it. You didn’t hesitate to crack open the head of the wriggling creature with it.
When you made sure it was dead, and you were finally free, getting on all fours and regaining proper movement, you could finally focus on your struggling boyfriend. And when you saw that the bats had managed to tear through his flesh, you saw red.
You leaped forward and grabbed one of them by the tail, pulling it away from Steve as you stood up. Planting your feet on the ground so the monster couldn’t jerk you around too much, you let out an angry shout and whirled, slamming it against a boulder with such force that it fell dead in an instant.
At that very moment, another monster flew towards you with such velocity that it sent you hurtling back on the ground, and much like the one holding Steve down, it wrapped its tail around your wrist and began flying which resulted in you being dragged because it couldn’t lift you off the ground, you were much heavier after all, but you supposed its goal was to prevent you from standing up and fighting so wriggling you around and not allowing you to wrench free or reach it was enough for it. And truthfully, even if you tried reaching with your free hand, the jerking movements were preventing you from properly grabbing its tail or reaching into your back pocket where you held a pocket knife. It didn’t help that a friend of it joined and all but latched itself onto your leg, sinking its claws and teeth in your flesh, causing you to yell in pain, anger, and helplessness.
You didn’t even register Steve calling out your name when you got dragged right past him until you felt something grab your ankle and you looked down, only to see that Steve had grabbed you, his arm stretched painfully. He was going to dislocate his shoulder if he kept his hold on you but you could see in his eyes that he didn’t care. All he wanted was to help you even though it was harming him in the process.
Thanks to him halting the jerking movements, to a point, you were able to finally reach your pocket knife. With a quick press of the small button, the blade sprung out of its lair, and with a swift swing, you sliced through the thinnest part of the tail and cut it off. The bat screeched in pain and flew off, allowing you to move once again.
You completely ignored the one latched onto your thigh, biting you, and stood up, limping your way to your boyfriend and grabbing the bat that had its tail wrapped around his neck. The moment you took hold of the creature, an oar entered your periphery vision and you trailed it as it smashed the other bat that was biting Steve’s side. Your head snapped to look at the person, surprised to see it was Eddie and behind him, Nancy and Robin were standing up after crawling through the portal, looking just as angry and menacing as the boy.
You let out a hiss when the bat bit you on the face and let go instinctively, hand flying to nurse the aching spot on your cheek. The girls immediately took your place as one pinned the tail to the ground and the other began hitting it but just then, more of them came in. One latched onto Nancy’s back and another attacked Eddie. Thankfully, he was able to hit it with the oar and it flew against a boulder, falling dead. But Nancy didn’t have that luck and Robin had to rush to help her get it off her back.
In the meantime, you were about to return to Steve and help him but he somehow managed to find a way to wriggle out of the bat’s tail. He grabbed it and scuffled his way into standing up while the creature tried to fly off and jerked him around, but when he finally did stand up, he let out an angry shout and slammed it against the ground once, twice, thrice, even after it had died.
Meanwhile, Eddie noticed the pocked knife you had dropped and grabbed it, hurrying to your side and stabbing the creature in the head, causing it to finally let go of your thigh and fall dead at your feet.
All five of you wheezed, lungs burning for oxygen, bodies aching all over as every muscle, joint, and ligament stung from overexertion. But God, was it satisfying and worth it after you saw the dead bats on the ground and the others flying away.
“Jesus H. Christ!” exclaimed Eddie as he threw the broken oar and it clattered against the rocks.
“Steve,” you breathed out as you limped towards him and grabbed his face in your hands, looking him over. “Are you alright? Does it hurt? Fuck, of course, it does! My God, we need to patch you up,” you rambled as you saw the scarred tissue on his neck, then your eyes moved down to inspect his torso but he lifted your chin before they could. You looked at him in bewilderment that only doubled when you saw the tender smile he was giving you and the only thought that was running through your head was that you had to treat his wounds and get the hell out of this place.
“Hey,” he spoke softly. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay. Take a breath,” he guided you and you listened, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly. “It’s just a couple of bites. I’ve had worse,” he tried to calm you down and you shut your eyes, head lulling forward, and he mirrored you so your foreheads touched.
“Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?” sounded Robin’s concerned voice and you looked at her weirdly, not moving away from Steve’s touch.
“What?”
“It’s just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear and I think we should get you two to a doctor really soon, because once symptoms set in, it’s too late. You’re already dead,” she pointed out shakily and there was silence for a moment until it was interrupted by the sound of multiple screeching bats in the distance.
“Guys, we gotta get outta here,” commented Eddie frantically as you turned to look at the coming monsters but before you could even take a step towards the gate, they were already landing around it, creating a barrier between you and it, and screeching defensively.
“Okay, there’s not that many,” said Steve hopefully. “We can take ‘em.”
But just as he spoke, you saw a whole swarm in the distance of what was probably hundreds of bats flying towards you.
“Ooh, I think that plan just crashed and burned,” you whispered.
“The woods,” pointed Nancy. “C’mon!”
Steve grabbed you by the hand and didn’t hesitate to start running, almost making you stumble, and all of you prayed that you’d make it in time to hide.
“C’mon,” gasped your boyfriend as he dragged you behind him and you tried your best to keep up.
Thankfully, you managed to reach Skull Rock before the swarm of bats reached you and used it as shelter, hiding under the looming rocks while the creatures were flying somewhere above your location, unable to come down in the woods and get to you.
In the end, they gave up and left you alone.
“That was close,” commented Eddie after he and Robin left the protectiveness of the rocks and stared off in the distance as if they could spot the retreating creatures.
“Yeah.”
“Shit,” let out your boyfriend as he stumbled right after standing up, his hand flying to use the stone wall as support so he wouldn’t fall down. It was clear he was exhausted and it was more so because he was wounded, not because he fought a demo-bat and ran a long distance. Your boy was tough. But he wasn’t invincible.
“Steve!?” you exclaimed worriedly as you ran to his side and grabbed him by the arms to steady him before slowly lowering him to sit on a rock. “Jesus!”
“I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“Nuh-uh, don’t play this game with me. I know when you’re, in fact, not fine. You’re losing blood,” you spoke shakily as you hurried to take your bag off your back and rummage through it. You always carried your bag and ever since the first incident with the Demogorgon, you always packed it with all necessities like a bottle of clean water, bandages, disinfectant, and more.
“Alright, doc,” he let out a huff and smiled brokenly and you shook your head at him.
“Here, let me clean this,” you murmured as you unclasped the bottle of water and poured some over his wounds, making him hiss when you ran a cloth over them to wipe blood and debris, and he had to grit his teeth when afterward you dabbed some disinfectant onto them. “There, there. We’re almost done,” you spared a moment so he could catch his breath before you began bandaging his lower torso. The bandages were quite damp because some water managed to get in your usually tightly shut leather bag but that wasn’t that big of a problem.
“You were brilliant out there,” he uttered out a compliment and you smiled, hands still working on him. “The way you took down not one but two of these assholes,” he shook his head in amazement and pride. “And you were going to take out a third if you hadn’t gotten distracted.”
“Perhaps,” you let out a breathy chuckle and he watched you with admiration for a while before he lifted his hand, placed it on your cheek, and let his fingers gently stroke your skin and the scratch it now donned thanks to the little monster. “You were just as amazing. You were able to keep three of those sons of bitches at bay and in the end smashed one of them. You even risked asphyxiation and getting more hurt in order to help me which is something I’m deeply thankful for,” you finished tying the bandages and finally looked him in the eyes properly, giving him a proud, grateful smile. “You never cease to amaze me,” you chuckled and his smile grew before you brushed some fallen strands away from his face and leaned to place a long, tender kiss on his forehead. He shut his eyes and savored the feeling, his arms running up and down your back and bringing you closer so he could hug you, his head resting on your shoulder.
“I got so scared when you got pulled under,” you whispered against his hair and he hummed. “My heart almost burst,” you confessed and his hold on you tightened.
“And you jumped right after me. You didn’t waste a second. Silly girl,” he pulled away to look at you, expression full of distress and eyes full of restless concern gazed into yours. “You could’ve gotten in serious trouble. Not like we’re not deep enough in shit already but it could’ve been worse. What if Vecna had-”
“I would never abandon you,” you interrupted him steadfastly. “I don’t care about the possibilities. They are just ‘what-ifs’ that I couldn’t care less about. When it comes to priorities, you’re first. So I’ll risk anything to come to you when you need me most. Besides,” the smile bloomed once again. “It’s always better when we’re together. It’s like…there’s hope in the air. Like we can do anything.”
“Touche,” was the only thing he could say before he motioned for you to give him your bag and you furrowed your eyebrows but did so either way.
“What do you need?”
“I need…to stop you from bleeding out,” he pointed out and you finally looked down at your thigh, noticing the leaking blood.
Only now, when the adrenaline was leaving your system after you got to a shelter and made sure Steve was safe and tended to, did you actually pay attention to the way you were feeling faint. In fact, you’ve been feeling dazed since you finished tying the bandages around Steve and fell into his embrace. You just realized it now because this feeling was increasing by the minute.
“I think it might have punctured the-the, uh, the fermal artery or something,” he rushed to expand the tear in your jeans that the bat had made and pour some water to clean the blood, only for more to come out of the small wound and it was concerning and irritating as hell.
“You mean to say the femoral artery,” you grunted when he began wrapping up your tight and he nodded.
“Y-yeah, that’s what I meant.”
“Oh, leave the name, I’m proud that you know its location and significance,” you chuckled through grit teeth and he let out an awkward smile.
He, in fact, did not know the name or the location. He just knew that the blood wouldn’t stop leaking, followed where it was coming from, and had some vague remnants of biology knowledge run in his brain and alert him. Ever since you began dating he’s been studying some things in his free time for the sole purpose of impressing you but he never seemed to remember stuff accurately and he would often get distracted. Studying and memorizing paragraphs of dry information wasn’t exactly his forte but he still tried his best.
“We should get out of here as fast as possible and get you to a hospital,” intervened Nancy with a worried look and you waved her off.
“It’s okay, Nance. It’s not a big puncture wound or tear. All it needs is some tight bandages to stop the blood loss, some rest to replenish the one I already lost, and I’ll be fine,” you explained. “Although, my leg is sort of numb right now. It’s gonna take a couple of hours before I can use it normally,” you groaned.
“And since when did you become such an expert?” Robin lifted an eyebrow and you shrugged.
“Since all the people in my life and I began getting hurt every year…on more than one occasion.”
“Fair point.”
“I can’t believe that we’re actually here,” wheezed Eddie from the top of a rock. “After everything that I’ve heard about this place. Feels like a fever dream.”
“Enjoying the vacay?” you teased and he rolled his eyes.
“So, uh…this place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?” asked Robin.
“Pretty much,” you groaned as Nancy helped you stand up and steadied you, wrapping an arm around your waist and holding your hand with her free one.
Eddie was about to head down in order to help Steve but when he almost stepped on a vine, you and Nancy shouted out at the same time.
“Watch out for the vines!”
“Uh, right, it’s a hive mind,” the boy shot his hands in the air and smiled wobbly. “If you step on a vine, you step on Vecna, right? Sorry,” he apologized and proceeded to carefully get down before he went to Steve and helped him get up. “I got ya, big boy.”
“Thanks, man. Y/N/N, you good?” asked your boyfriend and you gave him a thumbs up.
“Nance has got me.”
“A-and what do I do? T-to help?” asked Robin and you smiled at her.
“You can be our eyes and help us navigate better so we don’t…step on Vecna,” you turned to send Eddie a look and lift your eyebrow and he stuck his tongue out at you.
“Alright, give me your flashlights. I shall be your lighthouse in this wild sea of monsters,” she proclaimed dramatically and all of you snorted.
“Hold on…we’re all set to go and all…but where are we going… exactly?” questioned Steve.
“Well, uhm, if the Upside Down is the same as Hawkins, that means everything from our world is still here, right? Except people,” pointed out Robin. “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 waved her hand.
“Yeah, I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin,” sighed Steve. “But guns, yeah, sure.”
“No, hold on…we don’t have to go all the way downtown for guns,” interfered Nancy. “I have guns in my bedroom and my house isn’t far from here.”
“You,” pointed Eddie. “Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural…in your bedroom?”
“I had no choice but to learn and start using them since I got dragged into the whole… monster-hunting thing,” she shrugged and you chuckled.
“Ah, we used to call it monster hunting back then, didn’t we? Good old times,” you winked at her and she smiled.
“She-” Steve thrust his finger in her direction. “-almost shot me with one of those.”
“Knowing what you were like back then, you probably deserved it,” you snorted and Steve’s jaw fell to the ground in astoundment.
“Here you go,” interrupted Eddie as he took off his denim vest and handed it to Steve. “For your modesty, dude.”
“Thanks, man,” they high-fived casually and you smiled warmly at the way they were getting along. Their bond has strengthened so much since their first meeting and you were so happy to see them being this close.
But suddenly, sinister growling echoed throughout the very atmosphere and the ground beneath shook so badly that all of you lost balance and fell down. You could even hear the sound of stone cracking which was accompanied by the screeching of the mutated bats.
“Yeah, so, guns seem like a pretty good idea to me,” gulped Eddie from his position on the ground, petrified.
“Yeah, me too,” agreed Robin as she and everyone else slowly got back on your feet.
“Well, I gotta say that was quite macabre,” you cleared your throat as you gripped Nancy for support, using her as a crutch. “And not in a good way,” you drawled and the girl hummed in agreement before you began walking.
“Macabre?” echoed Steve and Eddie as they looked at you confoundedly and then at each other.
“It’s just another word for ‘creepy’, dinguses. Enrichen your dictionaries some more,” snorted Robin before she turned on the flashlight and followed after you and Nancy.
“Must’ve skipped that literature class,” groaned Steve quietly, embarrassed, and Eddie patted him on the back.
“But at least you got the ‘biology knowledge’, don’t you, king Stevie,” winked Eddie mischievously and Steve gave him an ‘are you serious right now?’ look.
Needless to say, you eventually found your way out of the woods and reached the Wheelers’ house.
“Well, this looks cozy,” commented Robin. “But you really need a maid, Wheeler.”
“C’mon…I don’t wanna stay here longer than I have to,” she said before she turned to face you, her arms still holding you and helping you walk, or rather hobble, due to you still being unable to fully use your leg because of the blood loss and circulation that needed to get better. “Will you be okay if I let go?” she asked and you nodded.
“I’ll be fine, no problem.”
“Hey, I can take over. It’s okay,” intervened Steve as he came to your side and took Nancy’s place. “I’m feeling much better, don’t worry about it,” he reassured you once he saw your concerned, questioning stare and you sighed, accepting his help.
But while the others began climbing the stairs quickly, you and Steve took it a bit slower, causing you to linger more in the room which in turn allowed you to hear a faint, familiar voice.
“Do you hear what I’m hearing?” asked the boy and you nodded.
“I think I do…I can only hope it’s what I think it is but we’ll come back to check on it later. Now let’s go to the others.”
Steve quickly grabbed you by the waist and lifted you slightly off the ground, making you let out a soft squeal before he hurriedly climbed the stairs and let you down again.
“Well, that took me off guard,” you huffed and he chuckled before you entered Nancy’s room, only to find her and the others staring dumbly at a shoebox. “What is it?” you asked and the girl turned to face you, full of confusion.
“I don’t understand…”
“Maybe you left them somewhere else?” offered Eddie while you and Steve got closer to the trio and peeked over Robin’s shoulder, noticing that the box was occupied by a pair of pointy heels and there were no guns in sight.
“There’s a six-year-old in the house,” she snapped. “I know where I keep my guns. And also…I threw these away years ago.”
“Uh, Nance,” Steve drew her attention and she looked at him, only to see him stare at something in utter bewilderment and unrest, making her follow his gaze and notice a couple of oddly familiar papers that weren’t supposed to be here.
“These are from sophomore chemistry,” she whispered as she read through them and your eyes widened while hers looked around the room frantically. “This…This wallpaper, this is old wallpaper and old posters,” she pointed at the wall in front of her and your breath hitched as you began putting two and two together. “And this mirror!? This went to a yard sale. And you…you’re not supposed to be here,” she muttered as she grabbed a stuffed animal from her bed. “No, I gave you to cousin Johanna two years ago!”
You let out a shaky sigh, hands running over your face. You began forming a theory the moment Nancy began spouting about the heels and the chemistry papers but you didn’t want it to be true because if it was, it would make the situation much more complicated. Maybe not for now but in the near future.
And then your eyes landed on a small calendar with a pinned date - November 6, 1983.
The papers, the mirror, the stuffed animal, the posters - they were all supposed to be here. They were all exactly where they belonged.
You weren’t.
“Great, so not only do we not have guns now, but we’re stuck in a world that’s not even on the same timeline as ours,” rambled Robin with a slight tremble to her tone and you sighed as you held onto Steve who had lifted you once again so you could climb down the stairs faster.
“Add that to the list of things we have yet to figure out about The Upside Down and its lovely residents,” you quipped as you motioned for Steve to set you down and once he did, you looked around and tried to concentrate on the faint voice you had heard. “But for now, can we focus on something else? I think that someone is speaking.”
“Someone is speaking?”
“Yeah, before we joined you guys in the room, we heard the echo of voices-”
“It’s Dustin!” exclaimed Steve and you did a double-take at how fast he was at recognizing the voice. “Dustin! Can you hear me!?” screamed the boy as he paced around the room. “Dustin!? Hello? He-Hello!?”
“Steve,” you called out with a deadpanned expression and he halted. “He’s not going to hear you,” you shook your head and everyone furrowed their eyebrows.
“I am soo lost right now,” drawled Eddie.
“Look, when you’re in the Upside Down, you can hear the people on the other side but they can’t hear you,” you explained as you limped towards the big chandelier. “Will used to communicate with Mom through the lights and that one time when I came here to look for him, I found out how he did it and used it to communicate with Nancy and Jonathan…only they weren’t there to see it.”
“I’m sorry,” mouthed Nancy and you gave her an ‘it’s ok’ look.
“So, we can hear Dustin and the others now? Because they’re in the house in our world?” asked Eddie and you nodded. “But we can only communicate through…lights?”
“Do you see those particles?” you asked as you outstretched your arm, wishing to make contact with the amber current. “I think that this is an electric charge.”
“A what?” interrupted Eddie and you sighed, hands dropping down to your side.
“Electric charge is a physical characteristic of matter that causes a force to develop when it is in close proximity to other electrically charged matter,” you gesticulated as you explained. “Electric charge can be positive or negative. Objects with the same charge are subject to a force that repels them from each other, and those with a different charge - to a force that attracts them to each other. An electric charge creates an electromagnetic field and the electromagnetic field can be defined as light since it propagates at the speed of light,” you crossed your arms as your gaze shifted from the baffled expressions of your friends to the particles floating around the chandelier and every other source of light. “I believe that the electromagnetic field of our world has formed a connection to the one of this world. Perhaps they collided and intertwined when Eleven opened the gate and this world began bleeding into ours. Perhaps the force of the field grew and it became more corporeal,” you reached out once again. “In fact, it became tangible enough that you’re able to touch and manipulate it,” your hand finally made the contact you wished for and the whole chandelier began glowing.
“Whoa!” exclaimed Eddie and Robin at once and Nancy shook her head with an amazed smile.
“Have I ever said that you’re absolutely brilliant!?” proclaimed Steve as he rushed to your side and grabbed you by the arms, shaking you just a tad bit. He was so giddy he reminded you of an excited puppy. “You’re brilliant, baby! Amazing!” he planted a bit too-aggressive kiss on your temple and you chuckled.
“Thank you, but now back on track,” you focused your attention back on the chandelier and everyone joined you, surrounding it. “Let’s send them a signal,” you suggested and everyone cautiously raised their arms and made contact with the field, making the chandelier beam even stronger. It was a rather pleasant tingling sensation.
“It…tickles,” commented Steve with a smile and you hummed.
“It kinda feels good,” added Robin and Eddie shot her a teasing look.
“Hey, you said you followed Vecna through lights, right?” you heard Erica’s voice and concluded that she most probably had seen the flickering lights you were causing. “‘Cause I think he’s here.”
“Oh, no, they’re gonna think we’re Vecna or-or some other monster,” groaned Steve, and Nancy bit her lip.
“Does anyone know Morse Code?” she asked and you nodded.
“A bit, yes. I began learning after Will got flayed.”
“Then let’s send them a message.”
After you sent a confirmation to Dustin and the others, they told you to meet them back in Nancy’s room and that they’d bring something through which you could talk normally.
“What is it gonna be? An Ouija board?” snorted Robin and everyone shared a short laugh while making your way to the room.
True to Dustin’s word, not long after you saw glowy particles appear over Nancy’s bed that were sort of lined in a way that represented a square.
“That must be Holly’s Lite-Brite,” let out Nancy in amazement and you smiled.
“Of course, he’ll always think of a way.”
“Write something,” urged you Steve and you traced your finger over the light.
HI
“Hi!”
“Hey!” greeted Lucas and Erica simultaneously.
“That worked!” exclaimed Dustin and all of you relaxed and filled with joy.
“Yes! Yes!” shouted Eddie and thrust his fist victoriously. “Hi!”
“Okay,” you let out a puff of air as you shifted a bit and made yourself more comfortable. “S…T…U…C…K,” you wrote next.
“Stuck!?”
“Mhm.”
“Yes, yes we are!”
“They’re stuck in the Upside Down!” clarified Lucas.
“Uh, you can’t get back through Watergate?” asked Dustin.
“What the hell’s Watergate?” Steve’s eyebrows furrowed and Robin shot him a look.
“‘Cause it’s in the water and it’s a gate.”
“Oh…that’s cute.”
“I wish we could,” you chirped as you wrote, “GUARDED”.
“Okay, uh, Watergate’s guarded. Listen, we think we have a theory that can help with that!” comforted you the boy and all of you let out sighs of relief.
“Genius child,” uttered Robin.
“We think Watergate isn’t the only gate. That there’s a gate at every murder site!” he disclosed and you shut your eyes as you resisted the urge to smack yourself.
“Fucking hell,” you grit out. “Of course, there’d be a gate at every murder site. Like, the one at Lover’s Lake didn’t just appear out of thin air. It opened right after Patrick died,” you threw your hand in the air before you dropped it back onto the bed. “Dustin is a genius for figuring it out this quick. Back then, the Demogorgon would come into our world to hunt. It opened gates at different sites where it hunted. When creatures from the other world impacted ours they always left traces. The only difference now is that those traces - the gates - aren’t just temporary like the ones made by the Demogorgon, but rather, they linger, and there’s a high chance that they might become permanent if we don’t deal with Vecna soon,” you finished uneasily and the others groaned.
“Great. That’s the only thing Hawkins is missing right now. Gates that monsters can pass through easily,” blurted out Robin and you rubbed your temple.
“Well then, let’s not wait for the grass to grow,” stated Steve. “Let’s go.”
“Go where exactly?” Eddie looked at him questioningly.
“The trailer park is the closest murder site, is it not?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so. Seven miles from here, I think,” nodded the boy.
“Great!”
“Nancy? Uh, I know your house here is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven’t you always had bikes?” inquired Robin, and the girl nodded. “Then let’s go get them.”
“You go prepare the bikes, I’ll just wrap it up here, tell the others where to meet up, and I’ll join you,” you motioned for them to go and they agreed, quickly leaving the room. Steve was the only one who stayed to wait for you. “Okay, so… M…E…E…T… U…S… A…T E…D…D…I…E…’S”
There had only been four bikes at Nancy’s but since you couldn’t use your leg efficiently, you wouldn’t have been able to ride one alone anyways, so you just got on Steve’s and let him do the job.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at our final destination. I hope you enjoyed the tour through Upside Down Resort,” proclaimed Eddie dramatically and you couldn’t help but smile at his efforts to diffuse the tension and fear.
“Why thank you,” answered Steve. “We did enjoy the sight-seeing of this jewel of a place, right honey?” he turned to look at you and you snorted, hand rubbing the side of your forehead.
“Oh, absolutely.”
All of you got off the bikes and rushed inside the trailer, bodies chilling to the bone when you saw the gleaming portal.
“This is where Chrissy died,” muttered Eddie, and you gulped, shoulders sagging. “Like, right where she died.” You didn’t even want to imagine her death or how utterly terrified she was, yet your mind pictured everything so vividly that it made you feel nauseous.
“I think there’s something in there,” pointed Robin, and you got a bit closer to the gate, noticing that there was in fact something on the other side, seemingly poking the membrane.
“If that’s not Dustin and the others, it’d be quite concerning,” you cringed when the membrane got pierced and fortunately for everyone, it was indeed Dustin and the others greeting you on the other side.
And they were all upside down too.
“No way,” uttered Steve as you got closer to the hole in the ceiling, and relief washed over you when you saw their grinning faces. You finally had a way out and all you could think about was going home, showering, and sleeping for hours.
“Hi there!” laughed Dustin as he and the others waved and you mirrored them.
“Hi!”
“Hey!”
“Holy shit, this is trippy,” uttered Robin, and you chuckled raspily.
“Indeed.”
After that, Lucas and Max proceeded to bring a mattress and placed it right under the gate.
“Those stains are, uh,” drawled Eddie as he shifted awkwardly. “I don’t know what those stains are.”
“Mhmm,” Robin shot him a knowing look accompanied by a smug smirk and he cleared his throat.
“Not quite sure how these physics work,” sighed Dustin as he fumbled with the sheets in his hands. But, uh…here goes nothing,” he exclaimed as he threw them up and half of them got sucked in by the gate, falling through and dangling in front of you. “And if my theory is correct,” grinned the boy as he let go but they didn’t budge. “Huh. Abracadabra!”
“Holy shit!”
“Alright, pull on it! See if it holds!” instructed Dustin and Robin let out a puff of air before she grabbed it and pulled with all her might.
“This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’ve seen some crazy shit,” exclaimed Erica.
Robin was the first to go. She climbed, went through the opening, and fell on the mattress on the other side.
“Ladies first,” Steve motioned with his hand. “Besides, we gotta help Y/N climb, cuz that leg-” he shook his head and tightened his lips instead of finishing the sentence and Nancy nodded before she began climbing, and soon after she was plopping onto the mattress on the other side.
“Well, I suggest we, uh, grab a chair,” described Eddie with mild gesticulation. “Put it here, then one of us climbs on it, and then the other will lift Y/N and hand her over so he can push her through the gate,” he finished with a nod as if he was proud he came up with such an idea.
“Sure,” shrugged Steve. “Sounds like a plan. Get ready, Y/N,” he said as he turned to face you but his eyes widened the moment they landed on you. “Y/N?”
Your own eyes had rolled to the back of your head and had turned pale blue in color. Your body was unmoving and never mind how much he called and shook you, you wouldn’t wake up.
Up until now, you’ve only dealt with vivid hallucinations, lucid dreams, and limbo states that Vecna haunted just for his own sick pleasure. You always ended up snapping out of them, or rather he always let you go.
But now he had taken it all a step further.
Now, he had taken over your mind completely and this time around, only music was going to save your soul.
“Y/N!”
Henry could only chuckle internally at the desperate shouts of Steve and Eddie echoing throughout the Upside Down. It brought him such immense pleasure. They would have to deal with your absence of mind for a while. You were his now.
ooo love that lil reader and Nancy moment I honestly would love to see them become besties or something like that or maybe just more interactions between them
Your heart was thumping loudly and the fear and anxiety were making it harder for you to keep the oxygen trapped in your lungs. It wanted to break free and you knew you had to hurry before you got overwhelmed and hit by a panic attack because if it happened underwater, you were surely going to suffer quite the consequences.
Thankfully, the red glowing portal was getting closer and closer, and before long you were breaking through it and crawling out on the other side, gasping for air.
It took you a moment to gather your bearings as you sputtered and tried to stand up, only for something to tackle you on the ground. You managed to catch it instinctively and keep it at enough distance. It screeched in your face and you could only describe it as a mutated bat.
“Y/N!” yelled Steve as you struggled to keep the creature at bay and you turned your head to look at where the sound had come from, noticing your boyfriend on the ground not too far from you, battling to keep the bats away just like you.
Your eyes widened when you saw that one of the monsters had wrapped its tail around his throat and he couldn’t swat away the others because he was too busy keeping the tail from choking him.
And just like that, something switched in you. It’s like someone snapped their fingers and you were overtaken by hot rage, determination, and protectiveness.
The bat you had been holding with your hands and preventing from biting your face off you decided to tuck closer to your body instead and squash it against your chest in order to immobilize it. You were able to roll around and squish it even more underneath you, putting the whole weight of your body on top of it. Your eyes searched the ground frantically and glimmered with delight when you noticed a big rock nearby. You reached out, arm stretching so much you were surprised it didn’t pop, and grazed it with your fingers, managing to shift it a bit until you were able to grab it. You didn’t hesitate to crack open the head of the wriggling creature with it.
When you made sure it was dead, and you were finally free, getting on all fours and regaining proper movement, you could finally focus on your struggling boyfriend. And when you saw that the bats had managed to tear through his flesh, you saw red.
You leaped forward and grabbed one of them by the tail, pulling it away from Steve as you stood up. Planting your feet on the ground so the monster couldn’t jerk you around too much, you let out an angry shout and whirled, slamming it against a boulder with such force that it fell dead in an instant.
At that very moment, another monster flew towards you with such velocity that it sent you hurtling back on the ground, and much like the one holding Steve down, it wrapped its tail around your wrist and began flying which resulted in you being dragged because it couldn’t lift you off the ground, you were much heavier after all, but you supposed its goal was to prevent you from standing up and fighting so wriggling you around and not allowing you to wrench free or reach it was enough for it. And truthfully, even if you tried reaching with your free hand, the jerking movements were preventing you from properly grabbing its tail or reaching into your back pocket where you held a pocket knife. It didn’t help that a friend of it joined and all but latched itself onto your leg, sinking its claws and teeth in your flesh, causing you to yell in pain, anger, and helplessness.
You didn’t even register Steve calling out your name when you got dragged right past him until you felt something grab your ankle and you looked down, only to see that Steve had grabbed you, his arm stretched painfully. He was going to dislocate his shoulder if he kept his hold on you but you could see in his eyes that he didn’t care. All he wanted was to help you even though it was harming him in the process.
Thanks to him halting the jerking movements, to a point, you were able to finally reach your pocket knife. With a quick press of the small button, the blade sprung out of its lair, and with a swift swing, you sliced through the thinnest part of the tail and cut it off. The bat screeched in pain and flew off, allowing you to move once again.
You completely ignored the one latched onto your thigh, biting you, and stood up, limping your way to your boyfriend and grabbing the bat that had its tail wrapped around his neck. The moment you took hold of the creature, an oar entered your periphery vision and you trailed it as it smashed the other bat that was biting Steve’s side. Your head snapped to look at the person, surprised to see it was Eddie and behind him, Nancy and Robin were standing up after crawling through the portal, looking just as angry and menacing as the boy.
You let out a hiss when the bat bit you on the face and let go instinctively, hand flying to nurse the aching spot on your cheek. The girls immediately took your place as one pinned the tail to the ground and the other began hitting it but just then, more of them came in. One latched onto Nancy’s back and another attacked Eddie. Thankfully, he was able to hit it with the oar and it flew against a boulder, falling dead. But Nancy didn’t have that luck and Robin had to rush to help her get it off her back.
In the meantime, you were about to return to Steve and help him but he somehow managed to find a way to wriggle out of the bat’s tail. He grabbed it and scuffled his way into standing up while the creature tried to fly off and jerked him around, but when he finally did stand up, he let out an angry shout and slammed it against the ground once, twice, thrice, even after it had died.
Meanwhile, Eddie noticed the pocked knife you had dropped and grabbed it, hurrying to your side and stabbing the creature in the head, causing it to finally let go of your thigh and fall dead at your feet.
All five of you wheezed, lungs burning for oxygen, bodies aching all over as every muscle, joint, and ligament stung from overexertion. But God, was it satisfying and worth it after you saw the dead bats on the ground and the others flying away.
“Jesus H. Christ!” exclaimed Eddie as he threw the broken oar and it clattered against the rocks.
“Steve,” you breathed out as you limped towards him and grabbed his face in your hands, looking him over. “Are you alright? Does it hurt? Fuck, of course, it does! My God, we need to patch you up,” you rambled as you saw the scarred tissue on his neck, then your eyes moved down to inspect his torso but he lifted your chin before they could. You looked at him in bewilderment that only doubled when you saw the tender smile he was giving you and the only thought that was running through your head was that you had to treat his wounds and get the hell out of this place.
“Hey,” he spoke softly. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay. Take a breath,” he guided you and you listened, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly. “It’s just a couple of bites. I’ve had worse,” he tried to calm you down and you shut your eyes, head lulling forward, and he mirrored you so your foreheads touched.
“Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?” sounded Robin’s concerned voice and you looked at her weirdly, not moving away from Steve’s touch.
“What?”
“It’s just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear and I think we should get you two to a doctor really soon, because once symptoms set in, it’s too late. You’re already dead,” she pointed out shakily and there was silence for a moment until it was interrupted by the sound of multiple screeching bats in the distance.
“Guys, we gotta get outta here,” commented Eddie frantically as you turned to look at the coming monsters but before you could even take a step towards the gate, they were already landing around it, creating a barrier between you and it, and screeching defensively.
“Okay, there’s not that many,” said Steve hopefully. “We can take ‘em.”
But just as he spoke, you saw a whole swarm in the distance of what was probably hundreds of bats flying towards you.
“Ooh, I think that plan just crashed and burned,” you whispered.
“The woods,” pointed Nancy. “C’mon!”
Steve grabbed you by the hand and didn’t hesitate to start running, almost making you stumble, and all of you prayed that you’d make it in time to hide.
“C’mon,” gasped your boyfriend as he dragged you behind him and you tried your best to keep up.
Thankfully, you managed to reach Skull Rock before the swarm of bats reached you and used it as shelter, hiding under the looming rocks while the creatures were flying somewhere above your location, unable to come down in the woods and get to you.
In the end, they gave up and left you alone.
“That was close,” commented Eddie after he and Robin left the protectiveness of the rocks and stared off in the distance as if they could spot the retreating creatures.
“Yeah.”
“Shit,” let out your boyfriend as he stumbled right after standing up, his hand flying to use the stone wall as support so he wouldn’t fall down. It was clear he was exhausted and it was more so because he was wounded, not because he fought a demo-bat and ran a long distance. Your boy was tough. But he wasn’t invincible.
“Steve!?” you exclaimed worriedly as you ran to his side and grabbed him by the arms to steady him before slowly lowering him to sit on a rock. “Jesus!”
“I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“Nuh-uh, don’t play this game with me. I know when you’re, in fact, not fine. You’re losing blood,” you spoke shakily as you hurried to take your bag off your back and rummage through it. You always carried your bag and ever since the first incident with the Demogorgon, you always packed it with all necessities like a bottle of clean water, bandages, disinfectant, and more.
“Alright, doc,” he let out a huff and smiled brokenly and you shook your head at him.
“Here, let me clean this,” you murmured as you unclasped the bottle of water and poured some over his wounds, making him hiss when you ran a cloth over them to wipe blood and debris, and he had to grit his teeth when afterward you dabbed some disinfectant onto them. “There, there. We’re almost done,” you spared a moment so he could catch his breath before you began bandaging his lower torso. The bandages were quite damp because some water managed to get in your usually tightly shut leather bag but that wasn’t that big of a problem.
“You were brilliant out there,” he uttered out a compliment and you smiled, hands still working on him. “The way you took down not one but two of these assholes,” he shook his head in amazement and pride. “And you were going to take out a third if you hadn’t gotten distracted.”
“Perhaps,” you let out a breathy chuckle and he watched you with admiration for a while before he lifted his hand, placed it on your cheek, and let his fingers gently stroke your skin and the scratch it now donned thanks to the little monster. “You were just as amazing. You were able to keep three of those sons of bitches at bay and in the end smashed one of them. You even risked asphyxiation and getting more hurt in order to help me which is something I’m deeply thankful for,” you finished tying the bandages and finally looked him in the eyes properly, giving him a proud, grateful smile. “You never cease to amaze me,” you chuckled and his smile grew before you brushed some fallen strands away from his face and leaned to place a long, tender kiss on his forehead. He shut his eyes and savored the feeling, his arms running up and down your back and bringing you closer so he could hug you, his head resting on your shoulder.
“I got so scared when you got pulled under,” you whispered against his hair and he hummed. “My heart almost burst,” you confessed and his hold on you tightened.
“And you jumped right after me. You didn’t waste a second. Silly girl,” he pulled away to look at you, expression full of distress and eyes full of restless concern gazed into yours. “You could’ve gotten in serious trouble. Not like we’re not deep enough in shit already but it could’ve been worse. What if Vecna had-”
“I would never abandon you,” you interrupted him steadfastly. “I don’t care about the possibilities. They are just ‘what-ifs’ that I couldn’t care less about. When it comes to priorities, you’re first. So I’ll risk anything to come to you when you need me most. Besides,” the smile bloomed once again. “It’s always better when we’re together. It’s like…there’s hope in the air. Like we can do anything.”
“Touche,” was the only thing he could say before he motioned for you to give him your bag and you furrowed your eyebrows but did so either way.
“What do you need?”
“I need…to stop you from bleeding out,” he pointed out and you finally looked down at your thigh, noticing the leaking blood.
Only now, when the adrenaline was leaving your system after you got to a shelter and made sure Steve was safe and tended to, did you actually pay attention to the way you were feeling faint. In fact, you’ve been feeling dazed since you finished tying the bandages around Steve and fell into his embrace. You just realized it now because this feeling was increasing by the minute.
“I think it might have punctured the-the, uh, the fermal artery or something,” he rushed to expand the tear in your jeans that the bat had made and pour some water to clean the blood, only for more to come out of the small wound and it was concerning and irritating as hell.
“You mean to say the femoral artery,” you grunted when he began wrapping up your tight and he nodded.
“Y-yeah, that’s what I meant.”
“Oh, leave the name, I’m proud that you know its location and significance,” you chuckled through grit teeth and he let out an awkward smile.
He, in fact, did not know the name or the location. He just knew that the blood wouldn’t stop leaking, followed where it was coming from, and had some vague remnants of biology knowledge run in his brain and alert him. Ever since you began dating he’s been studying some things in his free time for the sole purpose of impressing you but he never seemed to remember stuff accurately and he would often get distracted. Studying and memorizing paragraphs of dry information wasn’t exactly his forte but he still tried his best.
“We should get out of here as fast as possible and get you to a hospital,” intervened Nancy with a worried look and you waved her off.
“It’s okay, Nance. It’s not a big puncture wound or tear. All it needs is some tight bandages to stop the blood loss, some rest to replenish the one I already lost, and I’ll be fine,” you explained. “Although, my leg is sort of numb right now. It’s gonna take a couple of hours before I can use it normally,” you groaned.
“And since when did you become such an expert?” Robin lifted an eyebrow and you shrugged.
“Since all the people in my life and I began getting hurt every year…on more than one occasion.”
“Fair point.”
“I can’t believe that we’re actually here,” wheezed Eddie from the top of a rock. “After everything that I’ve heard about this place. Feels like a fever dream.”
“Enjoying the vacay?” you teased and he rolled his eyes.
“So, uh…this place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?” asked Robin.
“Pretty much,” you groaned as Nancy helped you stand up and steadied you, wrapping an arm around your waist and holding your hand with her free one.
Eddie was about to head down in order to help Steve but when he almost stepped on a vine, you and Nancy shouted out at the same time.
“Watch out for the vines!”
“Uh, right, it’s a hive mind,” the boy shot his hands in the air and smiled wobbly. “If you step on a vine, you step on Vecna, right? Sorry,” he apologized and proceeded to carefully get down before he went to Steve and helped him get up. “I got ya, big boy.”
“Thanks, man. Y/N/N, you good?” asked your boyfriend and you gave him a thumbs up.
“Nance has got me.”
“A-and what do I do? T-to help?” asked Robin and you smiled at her.
“You can be our eyes and help us navigate better so we don’t…step on Vecna,” you turned to send Eddie a look and lift your eyebrow and he stuck his tongue out at you.
“Alright, give me your flashlights. I shall be your lighthouse in this wild sea of monsters,” she proclaimed dramatically and all of you snorted.
“Hold on…we’re all set to go and all…but where are we going… exactly?” questioned Steve.
“Well, uhm, if the Upside Down is the same as Hawkins, that means everything from our world is still here, right? Except people,” pointed out Robin. “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 waved her hand.
“Yeah, I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin,” sighed Steve. “But guns, yeah, sure.”
“No, hold on…we don’t have to go all the way downtown for guns,” interfered Nancy. “I have guns in my bedroom and my house isn’t far from here.”
“You,” pointed Eddie. “Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural…in your bedroom?”
“I had no choice but to learn and start using them since I got dragged into the whole… monster-hunting thing,” she shrugged and you chuckled.
“Ah, we used to call it monster hunting back then, didn’t we? Good old times,” you winked at her and she smiled.
“She-” Steve thrust his finger in her direction. “-almost shot me with one of those.”
“Knowing what you were like back then, you probably deserved it,” you snorted and Steve’s jaw fell to the ground in astoundment.
“Here you go,” interrupted Eddie as he took off his denim vest and handed it to Steve. “For your modesty, dude.”
“Thanks, man,” they high-fived casually and you smiled warmly at the way they were getting along. Their bond has strengthened so much since their first meeting and you were so happy to see them being this close.
But suddenly, sinister growling echoed throughout the very atmosphere and the ground beneath shook so badly that all of you lost balance and fell down. You could even hear the sound of stone cracking which was accompanied by the screeching of the mutated bats.
“Yeah, so, guns seem like a pretty good idea to me,” gulped Eddie from his position on the ground, petrified.
“Yeah, me too,” agreed Robin as she and everyone else slowly got back on your feet.
“Well, I gotta say that was quite macabre,” you cleared your throat as you gripped Nancy for support, using her as a crutch. “And not in a good way,” you drawled and the girl hummed in agreement before you began walking.
“Macabre?” echoed Steve and Eddie as they looked at you confoundedly and then at each other.
“It’s just another word for ‘creepy’, dinguses. Enrichen your dictionaries some more,” snorted Robin before she turned on the flashlight and followed after you and Nancy.
“Must’ve skipped that literature class,” groaned Steve quietly, embarrassed, and Eddie patted him on the back.
“But at least you got the ‘biology knowledge’, don’t you, king Stevie,” winked Eddie mischievously and Steve gave him an ‘are you serious right now?’ look.
Needless to say, you eventually found your way out of the woods and reached the Wheelers’ house.
“Well, this looks cozy,” commented Robin. “But you really need a maid, Wheeler.”
“C’mon…I don’t wanna stay here longer than I have to,” she said before she turned to face you, her arms still holding you and helping you walk, or rather hobble, due to you still being unable to fully use your leg because of the blood loss and circulation that needed to get better. “Will you be okay if I let go?” she asked and you nodded.
“I’ll be fine, no problem.”
“Hey, I can take over. It’s okay,” intervened Steve as he came to your side and took Nancy’s place. “I’m feeling much better, don’t worry about it,” he reassured you once he saw your concerned, questioning stare and you sighed, accepting his help.
But while the others began climbing the stairs quickly, you and Steve took it a bit slower, causing you to linger more in the room which in turn allowed you to hear a faint, familiar voice.
“Do you hear what I’m hearing?” asked the boy and you nodded.
“I think I do…I can only hope it’s what I think it is but we’ll come back to check on it later. Now let’s go to the others.”
Steve quickly grabbed you by the waist and lifted you slightly off the ground, making you let out a soft squeal before he hurriedly climbed the stairs and let you down again.
“Well, that took me off guard,” you huffed and he chuckled before you entered Nancy’s room, only to find her and the others staring dumbly at a shoebox. “What is it?” you asked and the girl turned to face you, full of confusion.
“I don’t understand…”
“Maybe you left them somewhere else?” offered Eddie while you and Steve got closer to the trio and peeked over Robin’s shoulder, noticing that the box was occupied by a pair of pointy heels and there were no guns in sight.
“There’s a six-year-old in the house,” she snapped. “I know where I keep my guns. And also…I threw these away years ago.”
“Uh, Nance,” Steve drew her attention and she looked at him, only to see him stare at something in utter bewilderment and unrest, making her follow his gaze and notice a couple of oddly familiar papers that weren’t supposed to be here.
“These are from sophomore chemistry,” she whispered as she read through them and your eyes widened while hers looked around the room frantically. “This…This wallpaper, this is old wallpaper and old posters,” she pointed at the wall in front of her and your breath hitched as you began putting two and two together. “And this mirror!? This went to a yard sale. And you…you’re not supposed to be here,” she muttered as she grabbed a stuffed animal from her bed. “No, I gave you to cousin Johanna two years ago!”
You let out a shaky sigh, hands running over your face. You began forming a theory the moment Nancy began spouting about the heels and the chemistry papers but you didn’t want it to be true because if it was, it would make the situation much more complicated. Maybe not for now but in the near future.
And then your eyes landed on a small calendar with a pinned date - November 6, 1983.
The papers, the mirror, the stuffed animal, the posters - they were all supposed to be here. They were all exactly where they belonged.
You weren’t.
“Great, so not only do we not have guns now, but we’re stuck in a world that’s not even on the same timeline as ours,” rambled Robin with a slight tremble to her tone and you sighed as you held onto Steve who had lifted you once again so you could climb down the stairs faster.
“Add that to the list of things we have yet to figure out about The Upside Down and its lovely residents,” you quipped as you motioned for Steve to set you down and once he did, you looked around and tried to concentrate on the faint voice you had heard. “But for now, can we focus on something else? I think that someone is speaking.”
“Someone is speaking?”
“Yeah, before we joined you guys in the room, we heard the echo of voices-”
“It’s Dustin!” exclaimed Steve and you did a double-take at how fast he was at recognizing the voice. “Dustin! Can you hear me!?” screamed the boy as he paced around the room. “Dustin!? Hello? He-Hello!?”
“Steve,” you called out with a deadpanned expression and he halted. “He’s not going to hear you,” you shook your head and everyone furrowed their eyebrows.
“I am soo lost right now,” drawled Eddie.
“Look, when you’re in the Upside Down, you can hear the people on the other side but they can’t hear you,” you explained as you limped towards the big chandelier. “Will used to communicate with Mom through the lights and that one time when I came here to look for him, I found out how he did it and used it to communicate with Nancy and Jonathan…only they weren’t there to see it.”
“I’m sorry,” mouthed Nancy and you gave her an ‘it’s ok’ look.
“So, we can hear Dustin and the others now? Because they’re in the house in our world?” asked Eddie and you nodded. “But we can only communicate through…lights?”
“Do you see those particles?” you asked as you outstretched your arm, wishing to make contact with the amber current. “I think that this is an electric charge.”
“A what?” interrupted Eddie and you sighed, hands dropping down to your side.
“Electric charge is a physical characteristic of matter that causes a force to develop when it is in close proximity to other electrically charged matter,” you gesticulated as you explained. “Electric charge can be positive or negative. Objects with the same charge are subject to a force that repels them from each other, and those with a different charge - to a force that attracts them to each other. An electric charge creates an electromagnetic field and the electromagnetic field can be defined as light since it propagates at the speed of light,” you crossed your arms as your gaze shifted from the baffled expressions of your friends to the particles floating around the chandelier and every other source of light. “I believe that the electromagnetic field of our world has formed a connection to the one of this world. Perhaps they collided and intertwined when Eleven opened the gate and this world began bleeding into ours. Perhaps the force of the field grew and it became more corporeal,” you reached out once again. “In fact, it became tangible enough that you’re able to touch and manipulate it,” your hand finally made the contact you wished for and the whole chandelier began glowing.
“Whoa!” exclaimed Eddie and Robin at once and Nancy shook her head with an amazed smile.
“Have I ever said that you’re absolutely brilliant!?” proclaimed Steve as he rushed to your side and grabbed you by the arms, shaking you just a tad bit. He was so giddy he reminded you of an excited puppy. “You’re brilliant, baby! Amazing!” he planted a bit too-aggressive kiss on your temple and you chuckled.
“Thank you, but now back on track,” you focused your attention back on the chandelier and everyone joined you, surrounding it. “Let’s send them a signal,” you suggested and everyone cautiously raised their arms and made contact with the field, making the chandelier beam even stronger. It was a rather pleasant tingling sensation.
“It…tickles,” commented Steve with a smile and you hummed.
“It kinda feels good,” added Robin and Eddie shot her a teasing look.
“Hey, you said you followed Vecna through lights, right?” you heard Erica’s voice and concluded that she most probably had seen the flickering lights you were causing. “‘Cause I think he’s here.”
“Oh, no, they’re gonna think we’re Vecna or-or some other monster,” groaned Steve, and Nancy bit her lip.
“Does anyone know Morse Code?” she asked and you nodded.
“A bit, yes. I began learning after Will got flayed.”
“Then let’s send them a message.”
After you sent a confirmation to Dustin and the others, they told you to meet them back in Nancy’s room and that they’d bring something through which you could talk normally.
“What is it gonna be? An Ouija board?” snorted Robin and everyone shared a short laugh while making your way to the room.
True to Dustin’s word, not long after you saw glowy particles appear over Nancy’s bed that were sort of lined in a way that represented a square.
“That must be Holly’s Lite-Brite,” let out Nancy in amazement and you smiled.
“Of course, he’ll always think of a way.”
“Write something,” urged you Steve and you traced your finger over the light.
HI
“Hi!”
“Hey!” greeted Lucas and Erica simultaneously.
“That worked!” exclaimed Dustin and all of you relaxed and filled with joy.
“Yes! Yes!” shouted Eddie and thrust his fist victoriously. “Hi!”
“Okay,” you let out a puff of air as you shifted a bit and made yourself more comfortable. “S…T…U…C…K,” you wrote next.
“Stuck!?”
“Mhm.”
“Yes, yes we are!”
“They’re stuck in the Upside Down!” clarified Lucas.
“Uh, you can’t get back through Watergate?” asked Dustin.
“What the hell’s Watergate?” Steve’s eyebrows furrowed and Robin shot him a look.
“‘Cause it’s in the water and it’s a gate.”
“Oh…that’s cute.”
“I wish we could,” you chirped as you wrote, “GUARDED”.
“Okay, uh, Watergate’s guarded. Listen, we think we have a theory that can help with that!” comforted you the boy and all of you let out sighs of relief.
“Genius child,” uttered Robin.
“We think Watergate isn’t the only gate. That there’s a gate at every murder site!” he disclosed and you shut your eyes as you resisted the urge to smack yourself.
“Fucking hell,” you grit out. “Of course, there’d be a gate at every murder site. Like, the one at Lover’s Lake didn’t just appear out of thin air. It opened right after Patrick died,” you threw your hand in the air before you dropped it back onto the bed. “Dustin is a genius for figuring it out this quick. Back then, the Demogorgon would come into our world to hunt. It opened gates at different sites where it hunted. When creatures from the other world impacted ours they always left traces. The only difference now is that those traces - the gates - aren’t just temporary like the ones made by the Demogorgon, but rather, they linger, and there’s a high chance that they might become permanent if we don’t deal with Vecna soon,” you finished uneasily and the others groaned.
“Great. That’s the only thing Hawkins is missing right now. Gates that monsters can pass through easily,” blurted out Robin and you rubbed your temple.
“Well then, let’s not wait for the grass to grow,” stated Steve. “Let’s go.”
“Go where exactly?” Eddie looked at him questioningly.
“The trailer park is the closest murder site, is it not?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so. Seven miles from here, I think,” nodded the boy.
“Great!”
“Nancy? Uh, I know your house here is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven’t you always had bikes?” inquired Robin, and the girl nodded. “Then let’s go get them.”
“You go prepare the bikes, I’ll just wrap it up here, tell the others where to meet up, and I’ll join you,” you motioned for them to go and they agreed, quickly leaving the room. Steve was the only one who stayed to wait for you. “Okay, so… M…E…E…T… U…S… A…T E…D…D…I…E…’S”
There had only been four bikes at Nancy’s but since you couldn’t use your leg efficiently, you wouldn’t have been able to ride one alone anyways, so you just got on Steve’s and let him do the job.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at our final destination. I hope you enjoyed the tour through Upside Down Resort,” proclaimed Eddie dramatically and you couldn’t help but smile at his efforts to diffuse the tension and fear.
“Why thank you,” answered Steve. “We did enjoy the sight-seeing of this jewel of a place, right honey?” he turned to look at you and you snorted, hand rubbing the side of your forehead.
“Oh, absolutely.”
All of you got off the bikes and rushed inside the trailer, bodies chilling to the bone when you saw the gleaming portal.
“This is where Chrissy died,” muttered Eddie, and you gulped, shoulders sagging. “Like, right where she died.” You didn’t even want to imagine her death or how utterly terrified she was, yet your mind pictured everything so vividly that it made you feel nauseous.
“I think there’s something in there,” pointed Robin, and you got a bit closer to the gate, noticing that there was in fact something on the other side, seemingly poking the membrane.
“If that’s not Dustin and the others, it’d be quite concerning,” you cringed when the membrane got pierced and fortunately for everyone, it was indeed Dustin and the others greeting you on the other side.
And they were all upside down too.
“No way,” uttered Steve as you got closer to the hole in the ceiling, and relief washed over you when you saw their grinning faces. You finally had a way out and all you could think about was going home, showering, and sleeping for hours.
“Hi there!” laughed Dustin as he and the others waved and you mirrored them.
“Hi!”
“Hey!”
“Holy shit, this is trippy,” uttered Robin, and you chuckled raspily.
“Indeed.”
After that, Lucas and Max proceeded to bring a mattress and placed it right under the gate.
“Those stains are, uh,” drawled Eddie as he shifted awkwardly. “I don’t know what those stains are.”
“Mhmm,” Robin shot him a knowing look accompanied by a smug smirk and he cleared his throat.
“Not quite sure how these physics work,” sighed Dustin as he fumbled with the sheets in his hands. But, uh…here goes nothing,” he exclaimed as he threw them up and half of them got sucked in by the gate, falling through and dangling in front of you. “And if my theory is correct,” grinned the boy as he let go but they didn’t budge. “Huh. Abracadabra!”
“Holy shit!”
“Alright, pull on it! See if it holds!” instructed Dustin and Robin let out a puff of air before she grabbed it and pulled with all her might.
“This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’ve seen some crazy shit,” exclaimed Erica.
Robin was the first to go. She climbed, went through the opening, and fell on the mattress on the other side.
“Ladies first,” Steve motioned with his hand. “Besides, we gotta help Y/N climb, cuz that leg-” he shook his head and tightened his lips instead of finishing the sentence and Nancy nodded before she began climbing, and soon after she was plopping onto the mattress on the other side.
“Well, I suggest we, uh, grab a chair,” described Eddie with mild gesticulation. “Put it here, then one of us climbs on it, and then the other will lift Y/N and hand her over so he can push her through the gate,” he finished with a nod as if he was proud he came up with such an idea.
“Sure,” shrugged Steve. “Sounds like a plan. Get ready, Y/N,” he said as he turned to face you but his eyes widened the moment they landed on you. “Y/N?”
Your own eyes had rolled to the back of your head and had turned pale blue in color. Your body was unmoving and never mind how much he called and shook you, you wouldn’t wake up.
Up until now, you’ve only dealt with vivid hallucinations, lucid dreams, and limbo states that Vecna haunted just for his own sick pleasure. You always ended up snapping out of them, or rather he always let you go.
But now he had taken it all a step further.
Now, he had taken over your mind completely and this time around, only music was going to save your soul.
“Y/N!”
Henry could only chuckle internally at the desperate shouts of Steve and Eddie echoing throughout the Upside Down. It brought him such immense pleasure. They would have to deal with your absence of mind for a while. You were his now.
"Alright, no more running away," the sound of a door being thrown open could be heard, followed by multiple drumming footsteps. "Something is going on with you and I tried to be understanding but not anymore, Y/N! Not anymore!" Steve spoke with a raised tone as he followed you into the house, walking as briskly as you, not wanting to give you the opportunity to run away from his questions and hide in your room. He grabbed you by the elbow and forcefully turned you around. "Tell me what's going on with you or I'm gonna pick you up, throw you in the car, drive to California, and tell your family!" he pressed, panic and worry swirling deep into his irises as the uncertainty and the unknown were driving him insane.
The others could only watch the unfolding scene with unease and tension, not knowing what to say or if they should intervene in the first place. It seemed like a personal problem between two lovers but at the same time, it was a problem that could affect the whole party.
"Alright, fine!" you finally burst, giving up. "Fine!" you wrenched your arm out of his grasp and took a step back, trying to calm your elaborate breathing. "It's him, okay? Those visions that I'm having...it's all Vecna," you blurted out a confession that almost made you choke, and everyone's faces fell and blanched. "It's always been Vecna,” your tone simmered down to a defeated mumble and the others shared fearful, concerned looks.
"I knew it," whispered Max and Steve rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"Why didn't you say anything?" he asked. "And if you say it's because you didn't want to worry us, I'll-"
"I didn't say anything because I was afraid," you spilled out and he furrowed his brows in confusion.
"Afraid? Afraid of what?" he lifted his hands and shrugged his shoulders.
"I was afraid that...if I said it out loud...if I admitted it to myself and to everyone else...I would be solidifying everything. My fate would be set in stone and...I'd really die," you confessed with a long sigh as you leaned against the sofa and Steve's eyes softened. "I just didn't want to accept reality, I guess," you looked at your feet. "Or maybe I thought I could deal with him alone and not have you freak out," you threw your arms weakly. "I know it may sound silly but, I suppose all reasons combined had me keep my mouth shut."
Steve let out a sigh before he took a couple of steps closer and grasped your arms, making you look at him.
"Yeah, you're right. I am...totally freaking out," he admitted in distress. "I don't know if that's gonna mess with my head, with the decisions I may make in order to protect you, or with any future actions I may do, but I'd rather know the truth and freak out than not know anything and freak out even more and-and don't know what to do if-" he gulped. "-when...something bad eventually happens to you. You've done this before already and you've seen the results. Don't ever hide things from us," he put a strand of hair behind your ear and rubbed your arms up and down.
"Not only from us," added Eddie as he also shortened the distance between you and came to stand by Steve's side. "You're hiding from yourself, man. And you should know better than anyone that confronting things head-on instead of running from the responsibility of accepting them is the right thing to do. I know I'm not one to talk," he let out a sardonic snort. "I always run away and refuse to accept shit...but I learned a thing or two from all of you,” he smiled. “And hey, as long as I give good advice, does it matter if I myself follow it or not? It's important that you do," he put a hand on your shoulder and squeezed reassuringly, making a smile break on your face and a short laugh slip past your lips.
"I didn't think I'd live to see you two become mature like that," you commented and the boys snorted and looked at one another knowingly before back at you and you didn't hesitate to pull them in a big hug. "Thank you," you muttered and they rubbed your back soothingly, with Steve planting a kiss on the side of your neck.
"Well," commented Dustin. "Now that we got that covered, what are we supposed to do? We have not one but two people to worry about- Ow!" he exclaimed after Max elbowed him in the side and looked at her in outrage.
"Jesus, and then you wonder why Y/N doesn't tell you shit. You're all acting like a bunch of kindergarteners."
"Uhm, excuse me," exclaimed Eddie as he slowly turned around and lifted a finger, looking her up and down scandalized as if she had just personally offended him. "Didn't you just hear what Y/N said?"
"Yeah, I did," she crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow. "She said you've matured but didn't specify the level of maturity you possess," she shrugged as a smirk grew on her face and Eddie narrowed his eyes.
It was all in good nature, of course. They were messing around to diffuse the worry and tension that had doubled after your announcement and had everyone in an iron chokehold.
Before anyone could say anything else, the phone rang and you rushed to answer it.
"Y/N?"
"Uncle Calvin?"
"Thank God," he let out a relieved breath. "You're home. You're all home, right?" he asked and your forehead wrinkled.
"Yes, all of us are home. Why? Did something happen?"
"I'm afraid it has but...I can't really talk about it right now. I'll call you tomorrow, alright? Meanwhile, you just stay home and make sure you're safe," he instructed which left you with more questions than answers, and dread washed over you.
"Uhm...alright. See you tomorrow then," you bid him goodbye before the line was cut off and you slowly put the device back in its place, still shocked and still trying to get a grasp on what was going on and what he just told you.
"Y/N/N?" Nancy snapped you out of it and you looked at her and the others who were looking back at you expectantly. "What is it?"
"I think there's been another murder."
In the end, you couldn't really squash the dread and curiosity that had overwhelmed you. You told the others to stay put, to watch out and call you if anything happened, and rushed out of the house, with Steve hot on your heels, having insisted on coming with you. The two of you got into his car and drove off towards the police station, hoping to find Calvin there and ask him about the situation at hand.
What you definitely didn't expect to see after you stormed inside, or rather - who, was a shaking, wet, scared-shitless Jason Carver.
"Y/N? Harrington?" Calvin and Phil looked at you with surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"We just got worried. I mean, you left us with a very vague message and we just really needed to know what was going on," you said hesitantly, eyes darting between him and Jason, who was looking at you with suspicion and simmering anger, and he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose like a typical overworked parent who had to deal with his two curious, naughty kids.
"So," began Steve as he put his hands on his hips. "What happened exactly?"
Calvin and Phil shared a look before the latter motioned for you to follow him into the other room, evidently not wishing to speak about it in front of the scared teen.
"We got a call from Jason," explained the man once you were out of earshot. "Apparently, he and his friend Patrick had been looking for Eddie everywhere. They were at Reefer Rick's house when it happened."
"When what happened?" asked Steve and Phil sighed.
"Patrick was murdered," he revealed and your eyes widened.
You did suspect there was another murder but you still had some hopes that it wouldn't be the case, that maybe Calvin had called to warn you to stay safe because they found ‘clues’ or whatever. You didn’t want to believe that another murder would take place this soon. And you didn’t want to believe it was Patrick of all people. You actually liked Patrick. He was a good guy and was not as impulsive and harsh as most of the other basketball players. He was probably one of the very few decent guys out of the whole team.
He didn’t deserve such an ending.
None of them did.
"How-" you cleared your throat. "How did it happen?"
"Well, according to Jason something lifted him in the air, and then his bones snapped. We, uh, saw the body. It was quite disturbing," his face scrunched up in both disgust and sympathy. "But what doesn't add up is how exactly it happened. Like, the boy is hella convinced that the devil himself is running loose in this town and causing all of this. It's crazy," he shook his head. "We decided to bring him here and away from the crime scene because we thought it would make it a bit easier for him but he's still very much heavily impacted by it all and is speaking nonsense."
You almost wanted to let out a laugh at the irony. If only he knew how close to the truth Jason actually was he was probably going to resign.
"Y/N?" Steve called after you when you walked away and went back into the room Jason was being interrogated in.
You spared a moment to take a good look at him. He looked worse for wear - a far cry from the confident, energetic, pompous, high-maintenance boy you were used to seeing when you'd look at him. Now he seemed like a host of Death itself, all color drained from his face, hands shaking, leg bouncing, eyes red, hair disheveled. You would've taken pity on him had he actually been a decent human being and had he not begun a hunt for your best friend's head.
Yet, despite everything that happened, you still felt compelled to apologize for what he was going through. He was a total asshole but he didn't deserve to lose his girlfriend and one of his best friends in the span of a couple of days and in front of his very eyes. Somehow you felt responsible for it all. Was it because you've been tied to Vecna and the supernatural world for years now? Was it because you've failed at defeating this alien monster three times in a row or because of something else you didn't know. But you felt guilty.
"Hey," you greeted quietly and Jason's head snapped in your direction. "I'm really sorry about Patrick," you sent him an apologetic, understanding look and he held your gaze before looking down at the table, lips pursing angrily.
"You know, Patrick was fine at one point,” he spoke out raspily. “Then, all of a sudden he began seeing hallucinations. He told me he saw the disfigured form of his father in Reefer Rick's house, while we were looking for Eddie. He ran outside and we followed him because we got worried. Then he said... no, actually he didn't say anything, he just looked at the forest and panicked. I didn't see anything so I didn't believe him. I thought he was mad when he began running in the opposite direction, towards the water, as if he was trying to escape from...from a demon or something... I don't know what he was thinking, maybe he thought the water would be safer, that whatever he saw wouldn't follow him in there...but his swimming stopped all of the blue and...and something...something lifted him in the air a-and...his bones started to snap," divulged the boy with shaky voice. "I'm telling you. He was possessed," he looked up and met the skeptical eyes of the police. "Interesting how it happened right after I threatened you," he growled, eyes snapping to you, glaring right into your soul.
"Carver-" began Calvin but the boy was quick to interrupt.
"There is a satanic cult in this town!" he yelled as he threw the blanket on the floor and stood up. "And they are doing rituals, summoning demons, possessing innocent people just to sacrifice them to the devil. And the police is in on it," he grit out. "That's why we still have no suspect and we never will because you won't reveal the names of the perpetrators!"
"I advise you to be careful in what you say, son," spoke out Calvin.
"Why? Are you going to arrest me?" he scrunched up his nose like a rabid dog and the man sighed.
"No, but those accusations are preposterous. You need to rest and rethink everything before you go up against anyone you may suspect. Throwing around random accusations and delivering justice only you're convinced into will only get you and others into unnecessary trouble," the man put a hand on Jason's shoulder. "I understand you're upset. You just went through a horrible ordeal and you're confused. Just go home and rest for now. We'll find out what's truly happening and catch the perpetrator."
The boy sniffed and nodded mockingly before taking a couple of steps towards Phil who was waving his hand, beckoning for Jason to follow him.
"This isn't over," muttered the boy lowly when he passed by you. "I know you're in on it, just like that freak. And I'll come for you all," he all but spat out and you shut your eyes as you tried to compose yourself and not blow up in his face again. He was just so infuriating and always managed to push your buttons.
"Son," Calvin called out warningly.
Jason didn't say anything else. He just kept glaring at everyone and everything and begrudgingly allowed Phil to escort him outside in order to drive him home.
"Eddie with you?" asked Calvin after they left and you nodded. "Good. I think the last incident confirms he's not the culprit."
"Are you telling me you were still suspicious even after we vouched for him?" you lifted an eyebrow incredulously and he only smiled a little, shrugging.
"I'm a cop, that's my job."
After this whole ordeal ended, you returned home and informed everyone of what you had learned and seen.
Lucas took the news hard. He seemed to like Patrick and perhaps the two were close. The boy locked himself in one of the rooms, requesting to be left alone for a while and you were all understanding about it and gave him the space he needed.
Everyone else did pretty much the same afterward. Nobody was even in the mood for dinner tonight, all of you having lost appetite after today's events.
"You okay, man? I feel like you smoked a whole pack in the last couple of hours," commented Steve reluctantly as he observed the nervous ball that Eddie had turned into.
It seemed like the two of them were the only ones who had stayed in the living room after everyone else retreated for the night.
"I'm juust-" he dragged out the words while blowing out a thick cloud of smoke, which made Steve scrunch his face and wave with his hand in order to disperse it. "-trying to keep my calm, that's all."
Steve let out a sigh before he approached Eddie. He had been pacing by the window until now, stopping only to put out the cigarette in the ashtray that was overflowing, and Steve leaned against the wall, observing him quietly for a moment.
"C'mon, spill it out," he urged him and Eddie lifted a brow in confusion. "Spill it out. What's bothering you?" clarified Steve and Eddie looked away.
"It's nothing...I just," he sighed heavily and glued his palms together, pressing them against his face as if in silent prayer. "You know, Chrissy was a kind girl,” In the end he chose to spill it all out. “I wasn’t friends with her but I did get to meet her once thanks to Y/N. She was a good person. And I,” his voice raised, hands running through his hair. “I…failed to protect her when she needed it most,” he snarled with self-disdain as his hand slid down his face, fingers curling in half a fist that rested a top of his lips while his eyes stared ahead with burning anger, fear, misery, and guilt. “And now the same thing is happening to Y/N and…I’m just…scared I’ll fail her too,” he admitted bitterly and Steve hummed.
“You love her, don’t you?” he asked after a moment of silence and Eddie’s head snapped to look at the boy, eyes wide with shock and unease, body chilling to the bone, lips twitching as if he wanted to say something but the words got stuck in his throat. “I think I’ve known for some time, man. No need to deny it.”
“Is it that obvious?” muttered the boy, cheeks heating, and Steve chuckled.
“Kinda…I think so,” he shrugged. “But, it’s fine,” he said calmly and Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed.
“What?”
“I mean…don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I don’t feel jealous or whatever,” he rubbed the back of his neck as an awkward smile bloomed on his face. “But I just thought that if Y/N has another person who loves her just as much as I do, she’ll never be alone and she’ll always have someone to look after her. Not that the rest of the group or her family wouldn’t look after her,” he was quick to say as he gesticulated. “It’s just that, you know what I mean. Lucas would prioritize Max. Dustin, I love the kid but he can’t do much, I mean, he’s a kid, Robin and Nancy are always off to somewhere else, and Y/N’s family, El, and Mike are not even here, so,” he drawled. “If something happens to me, it’s good to know she has another, what was it that Billy used to say, knight in shining armor to look after her and only her,” he smiled at the flabbergasted boy.
“S-so,” he gulped, voice trembling slightly. “No hard feelings?” he asked and Steve chuckled, kicking off the wall.
“No hard feelings,” he squeezed Eddie’s shoulder and gave it two pats before he left the living room and headed for your bedroom, wishing to hold you more than anything else.
But when he rounded the corner of the corridor, he almost let out a shout when he saw you standing there, leaning against the wall with crossed arms, watery eyes glistening on the moonlight that peeked from the windows and showered the rooms with soft light.
“Jesus,” he whispered before you grabbed him by the wrist and all but dragged him into your room. “Did you, uhm…d-did you hear any of this?” he asked hesitantly.
“All of it,” you giggled and he groaned, running his hands over his face in obvious abashment. “Now, don’t be embarrassed,” you cooed. “I think what you did was very wholesome,” your hand went to caress his flushed cheek before it moved to comb through his hair and smooth it out. “I’m proud of you, Steve,” you said and his heart fluttered.
“It wasn’t anything special,” he muttered.
“But you’re wrong,” you grinned as you leaned and pressed your lips against his. “You’re too considerate, understanding, and ready to do anything for the people you love. Those qualities I cherish a lot. They are one of the many reasons why I love you so much,” you spoke in between the kisses and you could see he was beginning to swell with happiness at the praises.
“I just wish things weren’t as complicated and there wasn’t an alien trying to murder us all…again.”
“Preach it, baby.”
The Following Morning
“Alright, so, what do we do?” asked Robin before biting down on a toast smeared with strawberry jam and was met with crickets.
Nobody seemed to know what action your group was supposed to take next and that was quite scary. Vecna was still very much unreachable and you had no idea what to do about it. The house proved to be quite useless so far and you were back on square one.
“Well, first thing first, I suggest we leave the house,” called out Steve and everyone shot him weird looks except you.
“No, he’s right. Last night at the station? Remember what Jason said?” you reminded them and their faces fell in realization. “This guy is batshit crazy. I don’t doubt for a second that he’s gonna come here and look for us. Frankly, I don’t wanna deal with his bullshit.”
“Okay, but…where do we go?” asked Robin. “I mean, he and his group of ninnies are gonna be tearing through the whole damn town to find us.”
“Skull Rock,” piped in Steve and you snapped your fingers with approval.
“Right! It’s a good hiding spot and it’s in the outskirts of the town but not too far. It’s perfect.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get going.”
After you packed your leather backpack with all the essentials you might possibly need, put on your headphones, walkman, and stacked yourself with cassettes of your most favorite songs, you threw it over your shoulder and followed the others out. The group split, half of it going in Nancy’s car and the other half in Steve’s. A short, silent drive later, you found yourselves walking the woods, heading for Skull Rock.
“Oh, my God,” exclaimed Robin silently as she walked behind you and Nancy. “They’re so adorable. I just wanna squeeze ‘em, you know?” she asked, referring to Lucas and Max.
“Right,” you chuckled as you popped a cigarette in your mouth and lit it up, taking your headphones off so you could better listen to the girls, not wishing to be left out of any girly conversations they might conduct as it was something you haven’t had in some time. “They truly are.”
“It’s always a sight to behold. Rekindling of old flames, relationships being fixed,” she added. “Not that this is a hint or anything,” she was quick to wave her hands in dismissal and Nancy lifted a brow. “But even if it was, am I truly wrong about it? I just want my friends to be happy.”
“You think I’m not happy?” inquired Nancy incredulously and Robin shrugged.
“I-I’m sure you are. It’s just…the other day in the library I mentioned Jonathan and you sort of flinched or winced or something like-”
“I didn’t flinch or wince,” she interrupted, forehead scrunching up. “Jonathan and I are fine,” she nodded her head, her eyes darting between your unreadable expression and Robin’s unconvinced one.
“Okay,” said the brunette.
“We’re good!”
“Right.”
There was a tense silence for a while before Nancy sighed and kept on walking.
“It’s just…He was supposed to be here for the break,” she began. “And then he backed out at the last minute for some vague, mumbly Jonathan reason,” she explained exasperatedly and you frowned as you fell in step with her, leaves crunching under your boots. “And, to be honest, I’m not even that surprised because I’ve been feeling him pulling away lately and I don’t know if it’s because we’re 2000 miles away or if he met someone new or what. And now I can’t even find out because apparently he’s blown up his family’s house phone or something,” she bit out and threw her arm in irritation. “So, yeah, if…if the mention of his name caused a slight muscle spasm on my face, that’s probably why,” she admitted before she turned to look at you with an apologetic expression. “I’m so sorry Y/N/N.”
“No, it’s okay. I understand,” you reassured her and her stance visibly relaxed. “Honestly, he shouldn’t have backed out. I tried to talk to him about it but he’s been acting so weird these past months, like he’s just a shell and his mind is somewhere else,” you sighed in frustration, blowing some smoke in the process. “Frankly, he kinda seems high all the time and for the love of me, I can’t understand what’s going on in his head. But there’s one thing I’m absolutely sure of and that is, he hasn’t found anyone new. I promise you that. You’re the one and only girl that has captured his heart,” you sent her a smile and she returned it despite her low spirits. “Once I go back to LA, I’ll talk to him. Even if he doesn’t want to, I’ll wrench it out of him if I must. He can’t ignore you and run from responsibility forever,” you huffed as you put out the cigarette and put the butt away into the pocket of your black leather jacket, not wanting to leave a trail of garbage in the forest.
“Thank you, Y/N,” she said sincerely and you winked.
“Bada bing, bada boom! There it is, Henderson!” exclaimed Steve and you rolled your eyes at the silly little competition Dustin and Steve had engaged in since you stepped out of the cars and began looking for the place. “In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face!”
Dustin was so convinced he’d be able to find it with his compass but Steve insisted you didn’t need a compass because he knew where the place was better than anyone. Still, you couldn’t help but smile at their antics. You needed something like that to lighten up the mood once in a while.
“Doesn’t make sense,” complained the boy.
“Yeah, yeah,” waved him off Steve with a smug look. “Even with it staring you in the face, you still can’t admit it,” he shook his head as he looked at the huge boulder. “Can’t admit you’re wrong, you butthead.”
“I concur,” Eddie jumped on top of a big rock and put his hands in his jeans’ back pockets, smirking down at the boy in question. “You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead.”
“Hey, cut it out. Don’t bully my child,” you scoffed as you marched over to Dustin and threw an arm around his shoulder, bringing him closer to you. “Don’t you have anything better to do?” you asked challengingly.
“Well, I can name one good thing I’d like to be doing right now if it weren’t for Vecna,” he lifted his eyebrows and gave you a knowing look, making your jaw hit the floor and the others looked on with wide eyes before they exploded in laughter.
“Steve Harrington! I’ll wash that mouth with soap!”
“Okay, let’s think about other factors,” you ran a hand through your hair in frustration, having put out the third cigarette in the past hour. “What time did the murder happen? What did Phil say?” you asked Steve.
“Nine twenty-seven,” he responded, arms crossed.
“Same time our flashlights went kablooey,” added Robin.
“Which means what exactly?”
“That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick and Y/N simultaneously,” interpreted Nancy as she examined your watch which had stopped at exactly nine twenty-seven.
You all came to the conclusion that when Vecna made contact with you he drained the energy out of any devices you had on…and out of you. Maybe draining his targets and victims’ energy made him more powerful.
“Y/N!” shouted Steve as he ran up the stairs and when he finally saw you standing at the center of the room, he let out a shaky breath of relief before he marched to you and took you into his arms.
“Where the hell have you been this whole time!? We all gathered in the living room and when you didn’t come-” he cut himself off. “I swear you’ll drive me crazy one day,” he exclaimed as he pushed a hair strand behind your ear and placed a couple of kisses on the side of your head while you stood there, barely responsive because you were still in shock after everything that happened.
“We were calling for you but you were nowhere in sight,” added Eddie breathlessly, the panic still noticeable in his tone and demeanor. “Thank God Max here noticed the attic door.”
“Are you alright?”
“I’m…I’m fine,” you let out but it was so quiet that they barely heard you. “Just tired.”
“Let’s get you outta here,” he rubbed your arms up and down before he took your hand in his in an attempt to guide you out of the room which made you gasp, and him - recoil. “Shit,” he hissed when he finally took notice of the condition of your fingernails and rushed to apologize and reassure you that everything would be okay. But you were too busy keeping yourself from collapsing due to the sudden exhaustion that you didn’t pay attention to anything he was saying and simply allowed him to take you downstairs and clean and wrap a couple of your fingers with bandaids with the help of a panicking and queasy Dustin and Eddie.
“Dude, that’s disgusting!” exclaimed the kid as he watched Steve completely remove the most damaged nail, and while you hadn’t felt much pain when they were treating your other nails - for the damage wasn’t too big - this one hurt so bad it ripped a scream out of your vocal cords, which made the trio flinch.
Steve and Eddie were quick to clean, dry, put petroleum jelly on, and wrap up your finger nicely, and Steve immediately took you in his arms and began whispering sweet nothings to calm you down.
“Steve, you’re an idiot,” sighed Dustin. “She has headphones on, she can’t hear you.”
“I can, actually,” you whispered and Steve slowly shifted away to give you space so you could reach and pull down the headphones, showcasing that there was indeed no music playing.
The boys frowned and Dustin grabbed your walkman in order to inspect it but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
“It seems like the batteries died,” he concluded and Steve scoffed.
“That can’t be it, they’re brand new.”
“Well, nothing else is wrong with the device, Steve. It’s the batteries.”
“But how?”
They weren’t able to discuss this issue because Nancy and the others came into the room and she and Max took over, shooing the boys away. They instructed you to breathe - in for a slow count of five. Hold for five. Breathe out on five. Hold for five. Apparently, this type of breathwork shifted the energy, and true to their words, the fatigue changed from unbearable to bearable.
“C’mon, you need to stand up and walk for a bit,” said Nancy as she helped you get up. “Then we’ll grab you something nice and caloric to eat.”
“And a green tea.”
Stretching your muscles, walking into the sunlight, breathing in some fresh air, and grabbing something to eat did boost your energy a bit, but only so you couldn’t pass out and fall asleep the moment you leaned back on the car seat. You desperately wanted to throw yourself on your bed and sleep.
Steve understood that. He really did. But there was something gnawing at him, eating him from the inside out, and he needed to get an answer out of you, otherwise, he was going to go insane. He’s been having this feeling for a while now but he refused to ignore it any longer.
He did it last year and you had been flayed. He did it a couple of months ago when your voice had seemed a bit off over the phone, blaming it on homesickness or hard study sessions, and look what happened.
He wasn’t going to ignore it now and he wasn’t going to allow you to hide things just so you didn’t worry everyone.
“Well, we’re one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks and possibly why he attacks,” said Nancy in hopes of encouraging everyone.
“And where he attacks from,” nodded Lucas.
“So, now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart.”
“If he even has a heart.”
“A stake? Is he like, a vamp? Is he a vampire?” asked Steve and Max huffed.
“It was a metaphor.”
“A bullet should work on him, right?” said Eddie.
“I say we chop his head off,” offered Lucas instead.
“I say all of the above, but we can’t do any of that ‘till we find a way into the Upside Down,” sighed Nancy. “We need El to get her powers back.”
“Everything was way easier,” commented Steve. “We had this girl. She had superpowers. Now not only do we not have her here but we can’t even make contact with her and the others and tell them what’s going on here,” he grumbled dejectedly. “I mean, we need all the help we can get.”
“I agree, but we have to learn how to deal with this on our own because El’s powers are lost and we don’t even know for how long,” you muttered, eyes down, boot drawing patterns in the soil and kicking a couple of pebbles away.
“I’m sorry, Y/N/N. I know you must be worried about Will and the others,” said Nancy sympathetically. “I wish we knew why they’re not answering.”
“Yeah, it’s very bizarre that nobody contacted me. I thought mom would call every day and I’m afraid that something might have happened,” you admitted with a heavy burden resting on your heart. “But…even if something is going on, if mom’s there, I know they’ll be fine,” you smiled slightly and the others returned it.
“Your mom is badass,” complimented Eddie with a grin and you chuckled.
“She is something, isn’t she?”
“Boom!” yelled Dustin, startling you. “Bada…bada…boom,” he whispered mockingly as he pointed a finger at Steve and everyone looked at him in bewilderment. “I was right!” he said and Steve took a large breath, rolling his eyes. “Skull Rock was north.”
“Seriously? You’re serious?” asked him your astounded boyfriend.
“Mm-hmm.”
“This is Skull Rock! Okay!” he cried out as he pointed at the large boulder behind him and Dustin nodded with a shit-eating smirk.
“Mm-hmm.”
“You’re totally, absolutely, hundred percent wrong right now!”
“Yes,” drawled the boy. “And no.”
“Oh, my God,” sighed Steve in frustration and ran his hands over his face.
“This compass worked correctly-” began explaining Dustin as he lifted the compass for everyone to see. “-when we left the Byers’. It was correct when we got in the car and drove off. 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.”
“So you’re using faulty equipment,” Steve waved his arms in exasperation. “You’re still wrong.”
“Except, it isn’t faulty,” argued the boy before he turned to his friend for backup. “Lucas, remember what can affect a compass?”
“An electromagnetic field,” his face lit up in realization and so did yours.
“Yepp.”
“I’m sorry, I must’ve skipped that class,” stuttered out Robin.
“In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power,” you breathed out and Dustin snapped his fingers.
“Exactly. So there’s either some super big magnet around here, or-”
“There’s a gate!”
Following the lead of the compass, you hiked the woods and as the day began shifting into evening and the bright colors dulled, you found yourselves in front of Lover’s Lake.
“Watch your step, big boy,” Eddie caught Dustin just in time before he could step into the water and everyone looked at the lake in dismay.
“You gotta be shitting me.”
“I thought these woods were familiar.”
“There’s a gate in Lover’s Lake?”
“Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening…a gate to the other world,” you reminded them. “Is it farfetched to believe Vecna is the same?”
“Yeah, there’s only one way to find out.”
After that, you were lucky enough to stumble upon two abandoned boats. One of them didn’t want to start at all but the second one was good enough so you decided to use it and explore the lake to make sure if the gate was somewhere underneath or not.
Eddie was gentlemanly enough to help you, Robin, and Nancy get on the boat before he boarded as well.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Eddie stopped Dustin who tried to get on as well, putting a hand on the boy’s head and pushing him back. “You trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?”
“Hey, it’s better this way,” Nancy tried to lift his spirits. “You guys stay here with Max and keep an eye out for trouble.”
“You keep an eye out!” exclaimed Dustin and when she was taken aback by it, he made a face at her. “It’s my goddamn theory!”
“You heard Nance,” said Robin.
“Who put her in charge?!”
“I did.”
“Guys, we’re wasting time,” you sighed. “Dustin, we’ll be back soon anyway, and you’ll be able to observe with your binoculars too. Stay here where it’s safe and let us thread dangerous waters.”
“Literally,” threw a comment Steve and Eddie snickered.
Dustin begrudgingly passed you the compass and took a step back.
“Hey, here you go,” Steve threw a bag and the boy barely caught it.
“You sure you don’t need help?” you asked your boyfriend as he began to push the boat and he shook his head.
“I’m good,” he grunted and Dustin’s eyes widened when he saw his friend jump onto the boat last minute.
“You said four!”
“Sorry,” whispered Steve smugly and the boy grumbled under his breath.
It was Eddie and Robin who were responsible for the oars and moving the boat while you and Steve lighted the way with your flashlights as Nancy held the compass and navigated. It didn’t take too long before something happened.
“Whoa,” she exclaimed all of the blue. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down!” she instructed and Eddie and Robin halted their movements and left the oars before all of you gathered closer to the girl in order to look at the small device. It was spinning like crazy.
“This must be it,” you commented and they nodded in agreement. “It should be somewhere below us…I think.”
“I can’t believe this shit,” groaned Eddie and he did a double-take when he saw Steve take off his socks. “Uh, Steve? What are you doing, man?”
“Somebody’s gotta go down and check this out,” answered your boyfriend offhandedly and your eyebrows furrowed.
“Hell, no! You’re not diving down there.”
“Babe, I was Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years,” he patted your cheek and sent you a reassuring smile before he proceeded to take off his shirt. “I’ll be fine.”
“It’s not you I don’t have faith in,” you muttered. “It’s what might be lurking down there.”
“I’ll be quick, I promise. If I don’t come up in like, a minute or two, you can come after me and drag my ass out, okay?”
“And after that, I’ll kick that ass for making me worry,” your pout quickly melted into a small smile as you gave in and he grinned before placing a quick kiss on top of your head and jumped in the water after grabbing the flashlight that Eddie had wrapped in a plastic bag.
Immediately after, you and Eddie lit up cigarettes simultaneously and Robin and Nancy glared at you, making you stick out your tongues at them. You were stressed and the time couldn’t go faster so you simply wanted to kill some neurons with nicotine. How could they blame you?
After almost two minutes, Steve finally emerged from the water and took a large gulp of air, startling all of you.
“I found it!” he exclaimed breathlessly before he swam towards the boat and grabbed onto it.
“You found it?!”
“I found it. Yeah.”
“Are you okay?” you asked as you got closer and placed a hand on top of his arm and he nodded, panting.
“Dustin, you’re a goddamn Einstein, thank you,” Robin spoke into the walkie-talkie. “Steve found the gate.”
“It’s pretty wild,” described the boy. “It’s more a snack-size gate than the mama gate but still, it’s pretty damn big-” he barely finished his sentence before he suddenly dipped underwater, and a lump formed in your throat, body jerking forward, as you watched him come back to the surface and look around with eyes filled with confusion before he got pulled under completely, causing all of you to yell out in panic.
“Steve!” you called out panicked while your hands were hurriedly taking off your walkman and jacket.
“Y/N what are you doing!?” shouted Nancy but before anyone could stop you, you jumped into the water without wasting another second.
Fortunately, you had become a good and fast swimmer thanks to your surfing so it wasn’t that difficult to follow Steve who you blearily saw being dragged further and further down and through a glowing, glaringly red opening in the ground.
The gate.
And you didn’t hesitate to break through the membrane and follow your boy into the Upside Down.
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"Alright, no more running away," the sound of a door being thrown open could be heard, followed by multiple drumming footsteps. "Something is going on with you and I tried to be understanding but not anymore, Y/N! Not anymore!" Steve spoke with a raised tone as he followed you into the house, walking as briskly as you, not wanting to give you the opportunity to run away from his questions and hide in your room. He grabbed you by the elbow and forcefully turned you around. "Tell me what's going on with you or I'm gonna pick you up, throw you in the car, drive to California, and tell your family!" he pressed, panic and worry swirling deep into his irises as the uncertainty and the unknown were driving him insane.
The others could only watch the unfolding scene with unease and tension, not knowing what to say or if they should intervene in the first place. It seemed like a personal problem between two lovers but at the same time, it was a problem that could affect the whole party.
"Alright, fine!" you finally burst, giving up. "Fine!" you wrenched your arm out of his grasp and took a step back, trying to calm your elaborate breathing. "It's him, okay? Those visions that I'm having...it's all Vecna," you blurted out a confession that almost made you choke, and everyone's faces fell and blanched. "It's always been Vecna,” your tone simmered down to a defeated mumble and the others shared fearful, concerned looks.
"I knew it," whispered Max and Steve rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"Why didn't you say anything?" he asked. "And if you say it's because you didn't want to worry us, I'll-"
"I didn't say anything because I was afraid," you spilled out and he furrowed his brows in confusion.
"Afraid? Afraid of what?" he lifted his hands and shrugged his shoulders.
"I was afraid that...if I said it out loud...if I admitted it to myself and to everyone else...I would be solidifying everything. My fate would be set in stone and...I'd really die," you confessed with a long sigh as you leaned against the sofa and Steve's eyes softened. "I just didn't want to accept reality, I guess," you looked at your feet. "Or maybe I thought I could deal with him alone and not have you freak out," you threw your arms weakly. "I know it may sound silly but, I suppose all reasons combined had me keep my mouth shut."
Steve let out a sigh before he took a couple of steps closer and grasped your arms, making you look at him.
"Yeah, you're right. I am...totally freaking out," he admitted in distress. "I don't know if that's gonna mess with my head, with the decisions I may make in order to protect you, or with any future actions I may do, but I'd rather know the truth and freak out than not know anything and freak out even more and-and don't know what to do if-" he gulped. "-when...something bad eventually happens to you. You've done this before already and you've seen the results. Don't ever hide things from us," he put a strand of hair behind your ear and rubbed your arms up and down.
"Not only from us," added Eddie as he also shortened the distance between you and came to stand by Steve's side. "You're hiding from yourself, man. And you should know better than anyone that confronting things head-on instead of running from the responsibility of accepting them is the right thing to do. I know I'm not one to talk," he let out a sardonic snort. "I always run away and refuse to accept shit...but I learned a thing or two from all of you,” he smiled. “And hey, as long as I give good advice, does it matter if I myself follow it or not? It's important that you do," he put a hand on your shoulder and squeezed reassuringly, making a smile break on your face and a short laugh slip past your lips.
"I didn't think I'd live to see you two become mature like that," you commented and the boys snorted and looked at one another knowingly before back at you and you didn't hesitate to pull them in a big hug. "Thank you," you muttered and they rubbed your back soothingly, with Steve planting a kiss on the side of your neck.
"Well," commented Dustin. "Now that we got that covered, what are we supposed to do? We have not one but two people to worry about- Ow!" he exclaimed after Max elbowed him in the side and looked at her in outrage.
"Jesus, and then you wonder why Y/N doesn't tell you shit. You're all acting like a bunch of kindergarteners."
"Uhm, excuse me," exclaimed Eddie as he slowly turned around and lifted a finger, looking her up and down scandalized as if she had just personally offended him. "Didn't you just hear what Y/N said?"
"Yeah, I did," she crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow. "She said you've matured but didn't specify the level of maturity you possess," she shrugged as a smirk grew on her face and Eddie narrowed his eyes.
It was all in good nature, of course. They were messing around to diffuse the worry and tension that had doubled after your announcement and had everyone in an iron chokehold.
Before anyone could say anything else, the phone rang and you rushed to answer it.
"Y/N?"
"Uncle Calvin?"
"Thank God," he let out a relieved breath. "You're home. You're all home, right?" he asked and your forehead wrinkled.
"Yes, all of us are home. Why? Did something happen?"
"I'm afraid it has but...I can't really talk about it right now. I'll call you tomorrow, alright? Meanwhile, you just stay home and make sure you're safe," he instructed which left you with more questions than answers, and dread washed over you.
"Uhm...alright. See you tomorrow then," you bid him goodbye before the line was cut off and you slowly put the device back in its place, still shocked and still trying to get a grasp on what was going on and what he just told you.
"Y/N/N?" Nancy snapped you out of it and you looked at her and the others who were looking back at you expectantly. "What is it?"
"I think there's been another murder."
In the end, you couldn't really squash the dread and curiosity that had overwhelmed you. You told the others to stay put, to watch out and call you if anything happened, and rushed out of the house, with Steve hot on your heels, having insisted on coming with you. The two of you got into his car and drove off towards the police station, hoping to find Calvin there and ask him about the situation at hand.
What you definitely didn't expect to see after you stormed inside, or rather - who, was a shaking, wet, scared-shitless Jason Carver.
"Y/N? Harrington?" Calvin and Phil looked at you with surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"We just got worried. I mean, you left us with a very vague message and we just really needed to know what was going on," you said hesitantly, eyes darting between him and Jason, who was looking at you with suspicion and simmering anger, and he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose like a typical overworked parent who had to deal with his two curious, naughty kids.
"So," began Steve as he put his hands on his hips. "What happened exactly?"
Calvin and Phil shared a look before the latter motioned for you to follow him into the other room, evidently not wishing to speak about it in front of the scared teen.
"We got a call from Jason," explained the man once you were out of earshot. "Apparently, he and his friend Patrick had been looking for Eddie everywhere. They were at Reefer Rick's house when it happened."
"When what happened?" asked Steve and Phil sighed.
"Patrick was murdered," he revealed and your eyes widened.
You did suspect there was another murder but you still had some hopes that it wouldn't be the case, that maybe Calvin had called to warn you to stay safe because they found ‘clues’ or whatever. You didn’t want to believe that another murder would take place this soon. And you didn’t want to believe it was Patrick of all people. You actually liked Patrick. He was a good guy and was not as impulsive and harsh as most of the other basketball players. He was probably one of the very few decent guys out of the whole team.
He didn’t deserve such an ending.
None of them did.
"How-" you cleared your throat. "How did it happen?"
"Well, according to Jason something lifted him in the air, and then his bones snapped. We, uh, saw the body. It was quite disturbing," his face scrunched up in both disgust and sympathy. "But what doesn't add up is how exactly it happened. Like, the boy is hella convinced that the devil himself is running loose in this town and causing all of this. It's crazy," he shook his head. "We decided to bring him here and away from the crime scene because we thought it would make it a bit easier for him but he's still very much heavily impacted by it all and is speaking nonsense."
You almost wanted to let out a laugh at the irony. If only he knew how close to the truth Jason actually was he was probably going to resign.
"Y/N?" Steve called after you when you walked away and went back into the room Jason was being interrogated in.
You spared a moment to take a good look at him. He looked worse for wear - a far cry from the confident, energetic, pompous, high-maintenance boy you were used to seeing when you'd look at him. Now he seemed like a host of Death itself, all color drained from his face, hands shaking, leg bouncing, eyes red, hair disheveled. You would've taken pity on him had he actually been a decent human being and had he not begun a hunt for your best friend's head.
Yet, despite everything that happened, you still felt compelled to apologize for what he was going through. He was a total asshole but he didn't deserve to lose his girlfriend and one of his best friends in the span of a couple of days and in front of his very eyes. Somehow you felt responsible for it all. Was it because you've been tied to Vecna and the supernatural world for years now? Was it because you've failed at defeating this alien monster three times in a row or because of something else you didn't know. But you felt guilty.
"Hey," you greeted quietly and Jason's head snapped in your direction. "I'm really sorry about Patrick," you sent him an apologetic, understanding look and he held your gaze before looking down at the table, lips pursing angrily.
"You know, Patrick was fine at one point,” he spoke out raspily. “Then, all of a sudden he began seeing hallucinations. He told me he saw the disfigured form of his father in Reefer Rick's house, while we were looking for Eddie. He ran outside and we followed him because we got worried. Then he said... no, actually he didn't say anything, he just looked at the forest and panicked. I didn't see anything so I didn't believe him. I thought he was mad when he began running in the opposite direction, towards the water, as if he was trying to escape from...from a demon or something... I don't know what he was thinking, maybe he thought the water would be safer, that whatever he saw wouldn't follow him in there...but his swimming stopped all of the blue and...and something...something lifted him in the air a-and...his bones started to snap," divulged the boy with shaky voice. "I'm telling you. He was possessed," he looked up and met the skeptical eyes of the police. "Interesting how it happened right after I threatened you," he growled, eyes snapping to you, glaring right into your soul.
"Carver-" began Calvin but the boy was quick to interrupt.
"There is a satanic cult in this town!" he yelled as he threw the blanket on the floor and stood up. "And they are doing rituals, summoning demons, possessing innocent people just to sacrifice them to the devil. And the police is in on it," he grit out. "That's why we still have no suspect and we never will because you won't reveal the names of the perpetrators!"
"I advise you to be careful in what you say, son," spoke out Calvin.
"Why? Are you going to arrest me?" he scrunched up his nose like a rabid dog and the man sighed.
"No, but those accusations are preposterous. You need to rest and rethink everything before you go up against anyone you may suspect. Throwing around random accusations and delivering justice only you're convinced into will only get you and others into unnecessary trouble," the man put a hand on Jason's shoulder. "I understand you're upset. You just went through a horrible ordeal and you're confused. Just go home and rest for now. We'll find out what's truly happening and catch the perpetrator."
The boy sniffed and nodded mockingly before taking a couple of steps towards Phil who was waving his hand, beckoning for Jason to follow him.
"This isn't over," muttered the boy lowly when he passed by you. "I know you're in on it, just like that freak. And I'll come for you all," he all but spat out and you shut your eyes as you tried to compose yourself and not blow up in his face again. He was just so infuriating and always managed to push your buttons.
"Son," Calvin called out warningly.
Jason didn't say anything else. He just kept glaring at everyone and everything and begrudgingly allowed Phil to escort him outside in order to drive him home.
"Eddie with you?" asked Calvin after they left and you nodded. "Good. I think the last incident confirms he's not the culprit."
"Are you telling me you were still suspicious even after we vouched for him?" you lifted an eyebrow incredulously and he only smiled a little, shrugging.
"I'm a cop, that's my job."
After this whole ordeal ended, you returned home and informed everyone of what you had learned and seen.
Lucas took the news hard. He seemed to like Patrick and perhaps the two were close. The boy locked himself in one of the rooms, requesting to be left alone for a while and you were all understanding about it and gave him the space he needed.
Everyone else did pretty much the same afterward. Nobody was even in the mood for dinner tonight, all of you having lost appetite after today's events.
"You okay, man? I feel like you smoked a whole pack in the last couple of hours," commented Steve reluctantly as he observed the nervous ball that Eddie had turned into.
It seemed like the two of them were the only ones who had stayed in the living room after everyone else retreated for the night.
"I'm juust-" he dragged out the words while blowing out a thick cloud of smoke, which made Steve scrunch his face and wave with his hand in order to disperse it. "-trying to keep my calm, that's all."
Steve let out a sigh before he approached Eddie. He had been pacing by the window until now, stopping only to put out the cigarette in the ashtray that was overflowing, and Steve leaned against the wall, observing him quietly for a moment.
"C'mon, spill it out," he urged him and Eddie lifted a brow in confusion. "Spill it out. What's bothering you?" clarified Steve and Eddie looked away.
"It's nothing...I just," he sighed heavily and glued his palms together, pressing them against his face as if in silent prayer. "You know, Chrissy was a kind girl,” In the end he chose to spill it all out. “I wasn’t friends with her but I did get to meet her once thanks to Y/N. She was a good person. And I,” his voice raised, hands running through his hair. “I…failed to protect her when she needed it most,” he snarled with self-disdain as his hand slid down his face, fingers curling in half a fist that rested a top of his lips while his eyes stared ahead with burning anger, fear, misery, and guilt. “And now the same thing is happening to Y/N and…I’m just…scared I’ll fail her too,” he admitted bitterly and Steve hummed.
“You love her, don’t you?” he asked after a moment of silence and Eddie’s head snapped to look at the boy, eyes wide with shock and unease, body chilling to the bone, lips twitching as if he wanted to say something but the words got stuck in his throat. “I think I’ve known for some time, man. No need to deny it.”
“Is it that obvious?” muttered the boy, cheeks heating, and Steve chuckled.
“Kinda…I think so,” he shrugged. “But, it’s fine,” he said calmly and Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed.
“What?”
“I mean…don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I don’t feel jealous or whatever,” he rubbed the back of his neck as an awkward smile bloomed on his face. “But I just thought that if Y/N has another person who loves her just as much as I do, she’ll never be alone and she’ll always have someone to look after her. Not that the rest of the group or her family wouldn’t look after her,” he was quick to say as he gesticulated. “It’s just that, you know what I mean. Lucas would prioritize Max. Dustin, I love the kid but he can’t do much, I mean, he’s a kid, Robin and Nancy are always off to somewhere else, and Y/N’s family, El, and Mike are not even here, so,” he drawled. “If something happens to me, it’s good to know she has another, what was it that Billy used to say, knight in shining armor to look after her and only her,” he smiled at the flabbergasted boy.
“S-so,” he gulped, voice trembling slightly. “No hard feelings?” he asked and Steve chuckled, kicking off the wall.
“No hard feelings,” he squeezed Eddie’s shoulder and gave it two pats before he left the living room and headed for your bedroom, wishing to hold you more than anything else.
But when he rounded the corner of the corridor, he almost let out a shout when he saw you standing there, leaning against the wall with crossed arms, watery eyes glistening on the moonlight that peeked from the windows and showered the rooms with soft light.
“Jesus,” he whispered before you grabbed him by the wrist and all but dragged him into your room. “Did you, uhm…d-did you hear any of this?” he asked hesitantly.
“All of it,” you giggled and he groaned, running his hands over his face in obvious abashment. “Now, don’t be embarrassed,” you cooed. “I think what you did was very wholesome,” your hand went to caress his flushed cheek before it moved to comb through his hair and smooth it out. “I’m proud of you, Steve,” you said and his heart fluttered.
“It wasn’t anything special,” he muttered.
“But you’re wrong,” you grinned as you leaned and pressed your lips against his. “You’re too considerate, understanding, and ready to do anything for the people you love. Those qualities I cherish a lot. They are one of the many reasons why I love you so much,” you spoke in between the kisses and you could see he was beginning to swell with happiness at the praises.
“I just wish things weren’t as complicated and there wasn’t an alien trying to murder us all…again.”
“Preach it, baby.”
The Following Morning
“Alright, so, what do we do?” asked Robin before biting down on a toast smeared with strawberry jam and was met with crickets.
Nobody seemed to know what action your group was supposed to take next and that was quite scary. Vecna was still very much unreachable and you had no idea what to do about it. The house proved to be quite useless so far and you were back on square one.
“Well, first thing first, I suggest we leave the house,” called out Steve and everyone shot him weird looks except you.
“No, he’s right. Last night at the station? Remember what Jason said?” you reminded them and their faces fell in realization. “This guy is batshit crazy. I don’t doubt for a second that he’s gonna come here and look for us. Frankly, I don’t wanna deal with his bullshit.”
“Okay, but…where do we go?” asked Robin. “I mean, he and his group of ninnies are gonna be tearing through the whole damn town to find us.”
“Skull Rock,” piped in Steve and you snapped your fingers with approval.
“Right! It’s a good hiding spot and it’s in the outskirts of the town but not too far. It’s perfect.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get going.”
After you packed your leather backpack with all the essentials you might possibly need, put on your headphones, walkman, and stacked yourself with cassettes of your most favorite songs, you threw it over your shoulder and followed the others out. The group split, half of it going in Nancy’s car and the other half in Steve’s. A short, silent drive later, you found yourselves walking the woods, heading for Skull Rock.
“Oh, my God,” exclaimed Robin silently as she walked behind you and Nancy. “They’re so adorable. I just wanna squeeze ‘em, you know?” she asked, referring to Lucas and Max.
“Right,” you chuckled as you popped a cigarette in your mouth and lit it up, taking your headphones off so you could better listen to the girls, not wishing to be left out of any girly conversations they might conduct as it was something you haven’t had in some time. “They truly are.”
“It’s always a sight to behold. Rekindling of old flames, relationships being fixed,” she added. “Not that this is a hint or anything,” she was quick to wave her hands in dismissal and Nancy lifted a brow. “But even if it was, am I truly wrong about it? I just want my friends to be happy.”
“You think I’m not happy?” inquired Nancy incredulously and Robin shrugged.
“I-I’m sure you are. It’s just…the other day in the library I mentioned Jonathan and you sort of flinched or winced or something like-”
“I didn’t flinch or wince,” she interrupted, forehead scrunching up. “Jonathan and I are fine,” she nodded her head, her eyes darting between your unreadable expression and Robin’s unconvinced one.
“Okay,” said the brunette.
“We’re good!”
“Right.”
There was a tense silence for a while before Nancy sighed and kept on walking.
“It’s just…He was supposed to be here for the break,” she began. “And then he backed out at the last minute for some vague, mumbly Jonathan reason,” she explained exasperatedly and you frowned as you fell in step with her, leaves crunching under your boots. “And, to be honest, I’m not even that surprised because I’ve been feeling him pulling away lately and I don’t know if it’s because we’re 2000 miles away or if he met someone new or what. And now I can’t even find out because apparently he’s blown up his family’s house phone or something,” she bit out and threw her arm in irritation. “So, yeah, if…if the mention of his name caused a slight muscle spasm on my face, that’s probably why,” she admitted before she turned to look at you with an apologetic expression. “I’m so sorry Y/N/N.”
“No, it’s okay. I understand,” you reassured her and her stance visibly relaxed. “Honestly, he shouldn’t have backed out. I tried to talk to him about it but he’s been acting so weird these past months, like he’s just a shell and his mind is somewhere else,” you sighed in frustration, blowing some smoke in the process. “Frankly, he kinda seems high all the time and for the love of me, I can’t understand what’s going on in his head. But there’s one thing I’m absolutely sure of and that is, he hasn’t found anyone new. I promise you that. You’re the one and only girl that has captured his heart,” you sent her a smile and she returned it despite her low spirits. “Once I go back to LA, I’ll talk to him. Even if he doesn’t want to, I’ll wrench it out of him if I must. He can’t ignore you and run from responsibility forever,” you huffed as you put out the cigarette and put the butt away into the pocket of your black leather jacket, not wanting to leave a trail of garbage in the forest.
“Thank you, Y/N,” she said sincerely and you winked.
“Bada bing, bada boom! There it is, Henderson!” exclaimed Steve and you rolled your eyes at the silly little competition Dustin and Steve had engaged in since you stepped out of the cars and began looking for the place. “In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face!”
Dustin was so convinced he’d be able to find it with his compass but Steve insisted you didn’t need a compass because he knew where the place was better than anyone. Still, you couldn’t help but smile at their antics. You needed something like that to lighten up the mood once in a while.
“Doesn’t make sense,” complained the boy.
“Yeah, yeah,” waved him off Steve with a smug look. “Even with it staring you in the face, you still can’t admit it,” he shook his head as he looked at the huge boulder. “Can’t admit you’re wrong, you butthead.”
“I concur,” Eddie jumped on top of a big rock and put his hands in his jeans’ back pockets, smirking down at the boy in question. “You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead.”
“Hey, cut it out. Don’t bully my child,” you scoffed as you marched over to Dustin and threw an arm around his shoulder, bringing him closer to you. “Don’t you have anything better to do?” you asked challengingly.
“Well, I can name one good thing I’d like to be doing right now if it weren’t for Vecna,” he lifted his eyebrows and gave you a knowing look, making your jaw hit the floor and the others looked on with wide eyes before they exploded in laughter.
“Steve Harrington! I’ll wash that mouth with soap!”
“Okay, let’s think about other factors,” you ran a hand through your hair in frustration, having put out the third cigarette in the past hour. “What time did the murder happen? What did Phil say?” you asked Steve.
“Nine twenty-seven,” he responded, arms crossed.
“Same time our flashlights went kablooey,” added Robin.
“Which means what exactly?”
“That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick and Y/N simultaneously,” interpreted Nancy as she examined your watch which had stopped at exactly nine twenty-seven.
You all came to the conclusion that when Vecna made contact with you he drained the energy out of any devices you had on…and out of you. Maybe draining his targets and victims’ energy made him more powerful.
“Y/N!” shouted Steve as he ran up the stairs and when he finally saw you standing at the center of the room, he let out a shaky breath of relief before he marched to you and took you into his arms.
“Where the hell have you been this whole time!? We all gathered in the living room and when you didn’t come-” he cut himself off. “I swear you’ll drive me crazy one day,” he exclaimed as he pushed a hair strand behind your ear and placed a couple of kisses on the side of your head while you stood there, barely responsive because you were still in shock after everything that happened.
“We were calling for you but you were nowhere in sight,” added Eddie breathlessly, the panic still noticeable in his tone and demeanor. “Thank God Max here noticed the attic door.”
“Are you alright?”
“I’m…I’m fine,” you let out but it was so quiet that they barely heard you. “Just tired.”
“Let’s get you outta here,” he rubbed your arms up and down before he took your hand in his in an attempt to guide you out of the room which made you gasp, and him - recoil. “Shit,” he hissed when he finally took notice of the condition of your fingernails and rushed to apologize and reassure you that everything would be okay. But you were too busy keeping yourself from collapsing due to the sudden exhaustion that you didn’t pay attention to anything he was saying and simply allowed him to take you downstairs and clean and wrap a couple of your fingers with bandaids with the help of a panicking and queasy Dustin and Eddie.
“Dude, that’s disgusting!” exclaimed the kid as he watched Steve completely remove the most damaged nail, and while you hadn’t felt much pain when they were treating your other nails - for the damage wasn’t too big - this one hurt so bad it ripped a scream out of your vocal cords, which made the trio flinch.
Steve and Eddie were quick to clean, dry, put petroleum jelly on, and wrap up your finger nicely, and Steve immediately took you in his arms and began whispering sweet nothings to calm you down.
“Steve, you’re an idiot,” sighed Dustin. “She has headphones on, she can’t hear you.”
“I can, actually,” you whispered and Steve slowly shifted away to give you space so you could reach and pull down the headphones, showcasing that there was indeed no music playing.
The boys frowned and Dustin grabbed your walkman in order to inspect it but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
“It seems like the batteries died,” he concluded and Steve scoffed.
“That can’t be it, they’re brand new.”
“Well, nothing else is wrong with the device, Steve. It’s the batteries.”
“But how?”
They weren’t able to discuss this issue because Nancy and the others came into the room and she and Max took over, shooing the boys away. They instructed you to breathe - in for a slow count of five. Hold for five. Breathe out on five. Hold for five. Apparently, this type of breathwork shifted the energy, and true to their words, the fatigue changed from unbearable to bearable.
“C’mon, you need to stand up and walk for a bit,” said Nancy as she helped you get up. “Then we’ll grab you something nice and caloric to eat.”
“And a green tea.”
Stretching your muscles, walking into the sunlight, breathing in some fresh air, and grabbing something to eat did boost your energy a bit, but only so you couldn’t pass out and fall asleep the moment you leaned back on the car seat. You desperately wanted to throw yourself on your bed and sleep.
Steve understood that. He really did. But there was something gnawing at him, eating him from the inside out, and he needed to get an answer out of you, otherwise, he was going to go insane. He’s been having this feeling for a while now but he refused to ignore it any longer.
He did it last year and you had been flayed. He did it a couple of months ago when your voice had seemed a bit off over the phone, blaming it on homesickness or hard study sessions, and look what happened.
He wasn’t going to ignore it now and he wasn’t going to allow you to hide things just so you didn’t worry everyone.
“Well, we’re one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks and possibly why he attacks,” said Nancy in hopes of encouraging everyone.
“And where he attacks from,” nodded Lucas.
“So, now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart.”
“If he even has a heart.”
“A stake? Is he like, a vamp? Is he a vampire?” asked Steve and Max huffed.
“It was a metaphor.”
“A bullet should work on him, right?” said Eddie.
“I say we chop his head off,” offered Lucas instead.
“I say all of the above, but we can’t do any of that ‘till we find a way into the Upside Down,” sighed Nancy. “We need El to get her powers back.”
“Everything was way easier,” commented Steve. “We had this girl. She had superpowers. Now not only do we not have her here but we can’t even make contact with her and the others and tell them what’s going on here,” he grumbled dejectedly. “I mean, we need all the help we can get.”
“I agree, but we have to learn how to deal with this on our own because El’s powers are lost and we don’t even know for how long,” you muttered, eyes down, boot drawing patterns in the soil and kicking a couple of pebbles away.
“I’m sorry, Y/N/N. I know you must be worried about Will and the others,” said Nancy sympathetically. “I wish we knew why they’re not answering.”
“Yeah, it’s very bizarre that nobody contacted me. I thought mom would call every day and I’m afraid that something might have happened,” you admitted with a heavy burden resting on your heart. “But…even if something is going on, if mom’s there, I know they’ll be fine,” you smiled slightly and the others returned it.
“Your mom is badass,” complimented Eddie with a grin and you chuckled.
“She is something, isn’t she?”
“Boom!” yelled Dustin, startling you. “Bada…bada…boom,” he whispered mockingly as he pointed a finger at Steve and everyone looked at him in bewilderment. “I was right!” he said and Steve took a large breath, rolling his eyes. “Skull Rock was north.”
“Seriously? You’re serious?” asked him your astounded boyfriend.
“Mm-hmm.”
“This is Skull Rock! Okay!” he cried out as he pointed at the large boulder behind him and Dustin nodded with a shit-eating smirk.
“Mm-hmm.”
“You’re totally, absolutely, hundred percent wrong right now!”
“Yes,” drawled the boy. “And no.”
“Oh, my God,” sighed Steve in frustration and ran his hands over his face.
“This compass worked correctly-” began explaining Dustin as he lifted the compass for everyone to see. “-when we left the Byers’. It was correct when we got in the car and drove off. 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.”
“So you’re using faulty equipment,” Steve waved his arms in exasperation. “You’re still wrong.”
“Except, it isn’t faulty,” argued the boy before he turned to his friend for backup. “Lucas, remember what can affect a compass?”
“An electromagnetic field,” his face lit up in realization and so did yours.
“Yepp.”
“I’m sorry, I must’ve skipped that class,” stuttered out Robin.
“In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power,” you breathed out and Dustin snapped his fingers.
“Exactly. So there’s either some super big magnet around here, or-”
“There’s a gate!”
Following the lead of the compass, you hiked the woods and as the day began shifting into evening and the bright colors dulled, you found yourselves in front of Lover’s Lake.
“Watch your step, big boy,” Eddie caught Dustin just in time before he could step into the water and everyone looked at the lake in dismay.
“You gotta be shitting me.”
“I thought these woods were familiar.”
“There’s a gate in Lover’s Lake?”
“Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening…a gate to the other world,” you reminded them. “Is it farfetched to believe Vecna is the same?”
“Yeah, there’s only one way to find out.”
After that, you were lucky enough to stumble upon two abandoned boats. One of them didn’t want to start at all but the second one was good enough so you decided to use it and explore the lake to make sure if the gate was somewhere underneath or not.
Eddie was gentlemanly enough to help you, Robin, and Nancy get on the boat before he boarded as well.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Eddie stopped Dustin who tried to get on as well, putting a hand on the boy’s head and pushing him back. “You trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?”
“Hey, it’s better this way,” Nancy tried to lift his spirits. “You guys stay here with Max and keep an eye out for trouble.”
“You keep an eye out!” exclaimed Dustin and when she was taken aback by it, he made a face at her. “It’s my goddamn theory!”
“You heard Nance,” said Robin.
“Who put her in charge?!”
“I did.”
“Guys, we’re wasting time,” you sighed. “Dustin, we’ll be back soon anyway, and you’ll be able to observe with your binoculars too. Stay here where it’s safe and let us thread dangerous waters.”
“Literally,” threw a comment Steve and Eddie snickered.
Dustin begrudgingly passed you the compass and took a step back.
“Hey, here you go,” Steve threw a bag and the boy barely caught it.
“You sure you don’t need help?” you asked your boyfriend as he began to push the boat and he shook his head.
“I’m good,” he grunted and Dustin’s eyes widened when he saw his friend jump onto the boat last minute.
“You said four!”
“Sorry,” whispered Steve smugly and the boy grumbled under his breath.
It was Eddie and Robin who were responsible for the oars and moving the boat while you and Steve lighted the way with your flashlights as Nancy held the compass and navigated. It didn’t take too long before something happened.
“Whoa,” she exclaimed all of the blue. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down!” she instructed and Eddie and Robin halted their movements and left the oars before all of you gathered closer to the girl in order to look at the small device. It was spinning like crazy.
“This must be it,” you commented and they nodded in agreement. “It should be somewhere below us…I think.”
“I can’t believe this shit,” groaned Eddie and he did a double-take when he saw Steve take off his socks. “Uh, Steve? What are you doing, man?”
“Somebody’s gotta go down and check this out,” answered your boyfriend offhandedly and your eyebrows furrowed.
“Hell, no! You’re not diving down there.”
“Babe, I was Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years,” he patted your cheek and sent you a reassuring smile before he proceeded to take off his shirt. “I’ll be fine.”
“It’s not you I don’t have faith in,” you muttered. “It’s what might be lurking down there.”
“I’ll be quick, I promise. If I don’t come up in like, a minute or two, you can come after me and drag my ass out, okay?”
“And after that, I’ll kick that ass for making me worry,” your pout quickly melted into a small smile as you gave in and he grinned before placing a quick kiss on top of your head and jumped in the water after grabbing the flashlight that Eddie had wrapped in a plastic bag.
Immediately after, you and Eddie lit up cigarettes simultaneously and Robin and Nancy glared at you, making you stick out your tongues at them. You were stressed and the time couldn’t go faster so you simply wanted to kill some neurons with nicotine. How could they blame you?
After almost two minutes, Steve finally emerged from the water and took a large gulp of air, startling all of you.
“I found it!” he exclaimed breathlessly before he swam towards the boat and grabbed onto it.
“You found it?!”
“I found it. Yeah.”
“Are you okay?” you asked as you got closer and placed a hand on top of his arm and he nodded, panting.
“Dustin, you’re a goddamn Einstein, thank you,” Robin spoke into the walkie-talkie. “Steve found the gate.”
“It’s pretty wild,” described the boy. “It’s more a snack-size gate than the mama gate but still, it’s pretty damn big-” he barely finished his sentence before he suddenly dipped underwater, and a lump formed in your throat, body jerking forward, as you watched him come back to the surface and look around with eyes filled with confusion before he got pulled under completely, causing all of you to yell out in panic.
“Steve!” you called out panicked while your hands were hurriedly taking off your walkman and jacket.
“Y/N what are you doing!?” shouted Nancy but before anyone could stop you, you jumped into the water without wasting another second.
Fortunately, you had become a good and fast swimmer thanks to your surfing so it wasn’t that difficult to follow Steve who you blearily saw being dragged further and further down and through a glowing, glaringly red opening in the ground.
The gate.
And you didn’t hesitate to break through the membrane and follow your boy into the Upside Down.
Nahhh because I just started nail to the coffin (I'm on ch13) WE GOT CHEMISTRY WITH EVERYONE C'MON PLEASE HOW WE SUPPOSED TO PICK HERE (It's genuinely so good this is such an amazing fic haven't read anything this good in ions, thank you for writing this) THE REJECTION?? THE FLIRTATIONS??? PLEASE LEMME AT EM
AAAAAAA -screech- THANK YOOOU SO MUUUCH!!! I'm so happy to hear this! You've no idea how much your words mean to mee!! YOU MADE MY DAY! 😭💖😭💖😭💖💖💖💖
