There was a roaring in Nat's ears, like she had been pushed under water and everything was muffled except the noise of bones crunching and breaking. Her eyes were still locked on the spot where Patrick had been moments ago, unblinking, her breaths escaped her in short sharp bursts, she could barely feel anything.

"Nat! Nat!" She felt his arm tightened around her. "We have to go!" She felt herself nod and slowly her legs began to kick meekly. Eddie held her firmly, as they made their way slowly across the lake to the shore, as far away from the boathouse as they could go.

Nat's feet hit the rocks and she stumbled, collapsing onto her hands and knees on the shore, her hands digging into the stones. She gripped onto them, looking for anything that would make her feel steady. She tried to stand, but nausea wracked through her and she doubled back over, retching into the stones.

Eddie's hands were on her again, soft but firm on her shoulders. "We need to move."

Nat closed her eyes, trembling, "What- What the fuck was that?" She whispered, all she could see behind her eyelids was every snap of Patrick's bones, the boom as he hit the water. "What the fuck was that?!"

He crouched in front of her, noting the sharpness of her breaths as she tried to calm them. He gripped her chin with his hand and tilted her face up to his. "Nat, open your eyes." She shook her head, her brow furrowing afraid if she opened them the tears would come and never stop. "Look at me, Nat… Natalie, look at me!" She forced her eyes to open, to meet his, he held her chin firm. "You're okay. We're okay, but we have to go."

A nod this time, small, but a nod. She steeled herself and pushed into her palms, Eddie gripped under her shoulder and helped her rise. She didn't dare look back at the boathouse, afraid of what she'd see. "That's it," Eddie said, a slight shake in his voice. "You got it."

They walked away from the shore, towards the trees, stones crunching under their feet. They were both dripping wet from being submerged in the lake. They passed the treeline, it was so dark that they could barely see where they were going. More than once Eddie had to steady her as she tripped over roots and rocks.

They stumbled forwards for what seemed like hours, Nat's muscles were aching from the cold that wrapped itself around her. "Stop- I need to stop." She breathed. Eddie did, turning to face her. She leant back against a tree behind her, bracing her hands on her knees, taking deep steadying breaths.

Eddie stood still next to her, hands limply at his sides, his eyes never moving from her. "He's dead." She muttered, still staring at the ground. "There- there was nothing there and he- how could he have…?"

"Vecna." Eddie said flatly.

"Vecna… Yeah." The chill was biting into her now, she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to desperately fend it off. "That was what happened to Chrissy?" She looked up at him and he nodded.

"Christ." She leant her head back into the tree, looking up at the canopy above, she blinked, feeling the tears sting her eyes. Nat swallowed, feeling them fill to the brim and fall from her eyes like a bursting dam. They streamed down her cheeks, Nat bit her lower lip to stop herself from sobbing.

"Jesus Nat," Eddie was in front of her in an instant, hands softly on her cheeks. He pulled her into him, wrapping one arm over her shoulder, the other hand on the back of her head, keeping her close. Her body shook with sobs.

"What the hell is this Eddie?"

He shook his head, his fingers mindlessly massaging the back of her head. "I- I don't know. I don't know." He held her there while she sucked in breath after panicked breath. "It's okay, we're okay."

When she calmed, he pulled away from her so he could take her in, her eyes were red, her cheeks puffy. "We need to get you dry." He said, rubbing her arms as if it would fight off the ice in her veins. "I'll make a fire."

"No." She said, "No fire. Jason will have called the cops, we can't risk it."

"Okay, okay."

"I just need to sit," Nat said, feeling exhaustion wash over her like a tidal wave. "Ten minutes, just ten minutes." Eddie nodded and Nat sat, back up against the tree, arms wrapped around her knees which she brought up to her chest. Eddie sat next to her and she leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. He tilted his head onto hers, tucking her into him, providing as much warmth as he could give her despite being soaked through himself. Nat didn't know how long they sat in the darkness of the forest, surrounded by miles and miles of trees, but somewhere between the rustling sounds around them and the faint light breaking through which meant dawn wasn't far away, he eyes began to droop.

Nat didn't know where she was at first, it was so dark. She turned on the spot, hands outstretched, breathing ragged. Her foot caught on something solid and she fell hard into the ground. She looked up, ahead of her a dim red light was pulsing. Seeing no other alternative than fumbling aimlessly in the dark, Nat stood slowly and crept forward towards the light. It grew and grew as she stepped closer and closer, before her was a large red curtain.

Nat reached out to touch it, the fabric soft against her palm. Following it to the left, she pulled it back and stepped out. The brightness of the lights almost blinded her, she held up her hand to shield her eyes from them. As she adjusted to the brightness, she realised where she was. The drama room was lit before her, a large table in the centre. Around it sat seven chairs and at the head of the table, the large goblin throne. She stepped closer to the edge of the stage, turning on the spot, the curtain had vanished, only blackness remained from where she had come.

"Sorry I'm late, Sweetheart." Nat spun so quickly at the voice she almost lost her balance. Lounging in the throne was Eddie, he had a small smirk on his face. She let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding.

"You scared me," She said, finding the step at the side of the stage to head down towards him. A game of D&D was set up on the table. Funny, she thought that wasn't there a second ago. "Where is everyone?" She asked.

Eddie rose from the makeshift throne and rounded the table towards her, running his hands across the table. "It's just us tonight, don't you remember?" He stopped just in front of her, his ringed hand still on the table. Nat looked from his hand, to his face, he was looking at her strangely, something wasn't right. She looked to her right as something cracked in the distance, in a second his hand was gripping her chin, turning her back towards him. His face was inches from hers now.

"Eddie, you're hurting me." She said, trying not to wince.

"Don't be silly, Natalie." He crooned, smiling at her. "I know this is what you want. What you've always wanted."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She whispered, her heart in her throat.

"Oh- You don't?" His voice distorted, taking on a deep guttural rumble that made her shiver. "Then you won't mind watching."

Eddie's eyes rolled back into his head, arms dropping down by his sides. "Eddie…" Nat trembled, trying to raise her arms to touch him, but she was stuck as still as stone.

He started to rise, only a few inches at first, then higher and higher. Nat felt as if something was grabbing her by the hair, forcing her head to follow him.

"No! Eddie!" She called out to him. "Eddie! Eddie wake up! Please!" She felt her voice break as she screamed at him.

Then, just like Patrick, a sickening crack echoed through the room. Eddie's leg snapped to one side, then the other. Nat's mouth was open in a silent scream, tears leaving streaks down her face. She was trying to thrash, break free to reach him, but it was useless. His arms snapped then, first the left then the right. His head dropped back and a deafening crunch echoed through the room.

"EDDIE!" She screamed, her voice sounding far away. He hung there, sickeningly limp, limbs splayed at awful angles and then he dropped. Nat's head followed him, almost as if in slow motion as he hit the floor, head lolling towards her unblinking. Nat could do nothing else but scream.

Nat woke gasping, her hand pressed to the base of her neck. The sunlight was blaring through the trees bathing the floor of the forest in glittering rays. She turned, looking around her, scanning the trees. She was alone. Eddie's leather jacket lay next to her, curled up into a makeshift pillow.

"Eddie?" Nat called, trying to calm herself as she rose, looking around. "Eddie!" All Nat could hear was the chirping of birds. "Jesus H Christ!" She cursed kicking at the leaves. "I swear to God, Eddie Munson, if you have left me alone in these woods I will kick your ass and enjoy every. Last. Second. Of. It!"

"I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you then." She turned on the spot as Eddie emerged from the trees.

"Where the hell were you?" She half yelled, throwing her hands in the air. He held a walkie aloft.

"Walkie was broken, got a new one." He said, Nat ran a hand through her hair, frustrated.

Eddie walked slowly towards her, fiddling with the buttons on the walkie. He stuffed his hand into his pocket as he reached her and pulled out a cereal bar. "Here," he said, handing it to her. She took it from him gratefully.

"You should have woke me." She said, wishing that he had.

"You needed to sleep." He replied, pulling another cereal bar from his pocket.

"You should have woke me." She said again. If he had, then maybe she wouldn't see him as she saw him now. Hanging in the air, limbs shattered and broken, eyes looking at her without light or life.

"Sorry…" He said, apologetically, as she opened the cereal bar, despite the residual sickness she felt in her stomach. "Come on, I know somewhere we can go.

He grabbed his jacket off the floor and slung it back on. In the night their clothes had dried considerably, the heat of the morning would eliminate any remaining dampness.

They trekked north for a mile or so, until they reached a large boulder collection like a large misshapen skull. "Skull Rock." She said, thanking the lord that she was finally somewhere familiar. Skull Rock was notorious for being a make-out spot, everybody came out here for alone time. Around the rock lay several empty beer cans and bottles, people had been here recently.

She looked around them, the forest was quite save for the skittering of animals in the brush and birds in the trees. The walkie crackled into life as Eddie switched it on.

"Do you remember the channel?" Nat asked him.

"We'll soon find out," he said. "Dustin? Dustin, can you hear me?" Silence. "Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler?" The walkie crackled.

"Eddie. Holy shit!" Nat let out a bubbling laugh, almost jumping for joy. "Are you okay?"

Eddie clenched his fist together in triumph. "Nah, man. Pretty… pretty goddamn far from okay."

"Where are you? Is Nat with you?" He asked.

"Right here," Nat replied, "You can't get rid of us that easy."

"We're at Skull Rock, do you know it?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah we know it. It's near Cornwallis and-"

"Garrett," Steve's voice cut in over Dustin's. "Yeah, I know where that is."

The walkie crackled, "Hold tight." Dustin said, "We're coming. We're coming."

Eddie nodded, dropping the walkie to his side. "God, I hope they have a plan," Nat said, leaning against the rock.

They waited in silence. Eddie had got up and began to pace impatiently about five minutes prior. Nat was watching him out of the corner of her eye, more than once he stopped to look at her, then would carry on pacing.

Nat sighed, "Eddie, just talk to me." She said. "What is it?" He stopped, clenching and unclenching his hands at his sides.

He opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again, as if he was at odds with what to say to her. "I'm sorry you've got mixed up in this." He said, "I'm sorry you saw what you saw. I'm sorry that you-"

"Eddie, please, don't do this." She said, shaking her head. "I don't want you to do this to yourself, it's not your fault." She paused, the image of him in her dream flashing before her as she blinked. "Why do you think it was them?"

"Who?" He looked confused.

"Chrissy… and Patrick, why them?" She asked aloud. "I mean, Patrick could be an ass, but Chrissy, she was never mean to anyone. Why them?"

"I don't know." Eddie said as Nat wrung her hands together. It was so suddenly very apparent how fragile they all were.

"Eddie," She looked at him, a serious gaze overtaking her features. "If-" She stopped herself and swallowed, trying to find the right words. "If this thing… if Vecna chooses me. I-"

"Stop." Eddie said, taking a step towards where she was sitting. "Don't-"

"No, listen, please…" She said, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "If Vecna chooses me, and you're there- don't watch. Don't force yourself to watch." He took another step towards her. Her breath hitched. "And don't torture yourself for it either… I couldn't bear it if you did."

"Nat… He won't- I won't let anyone or anything hurt you." She looked up to him, his eyes were glistening. "I promise. I won't have to watch, because nothing is going to happen to you. Okay?"

She nodded, "Okay."

"Okay." He said, resuming his pacing.

It was the rustling that first alerted them to their presence. Nat remained sat leaning against Skull Rock as Eddie disappeared around the other side. Maybe she shouldn't have said that to him, maybe she shouldn't have put the idea in his head that something could happen to her, like it had to Chrissy and Patrick. In her dream, she had no choice but to watch what happened to him and she felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest. It wasn't real but she could never ask him to watch and feel so, so helpless. She never, ever wanted him to feel that way.

Nat hated what Eddie did to himself when he felt guilty, he would sink away into himself, locking everyone out. It would take everything to get it through to him that things weren't his fault. Nat remembered the last time he thought something was his fault. They had been riding their bikes back towards the trailer park. Nat, Eddie, Gar and Jeff. Eddie had told Nat that she would never be able to beat them back because she was by far the slowest on the bikes. She had flipped him the bird and accepted his challenge, pedalling furiously after them as they crossed road after road. They hit Franklin and Roe, screaming across the crossroads, Nat a second or so behind them, she didn't see the car until it was too late.

Nat barely had time to react to the horn as the car clipped the back of her bike. She yelped, as the bike spun, sending her careening over the handlebars. She hit the ground with a crunch, pain splintering up through her palm. She cried out, tears rolling down her cheeks. She barely heard the screech of bike tyres coming to a stop.

"Fuck- Nat!"

She had her face pressed into the pavement, a warm trickle was spreading down her arm. There were hands on her back. "Jesus, Nat, talk to me." It was Gar. There was the sound of doors opening, people were shouting.

"Someone help!"

"Christ, I'm so sorry!" All of their voices were blurring into one.

"Eddie…" Nat whimpered, as Gar helped her sit upright, she clutched tightly to her wrist which was splitting with pain. She saw him, stood but a few meters away, he was rooted to the spot, watching her with terrified eyes, mouth moving.

"It's all my fault." She heard him say.

Nat didn't see Eddie for two whole weeks, and when she did it was because she had sat outside his trailer for four hours, waiting for him to come home from wherever he was. She had forced him to sign her cast, saying it wasn't complete without it. He didn't appreciate her showing him her "wicked cool" scar that she was sure to have on her arm.

It wasn't his fault, yet he blamed himself anyway. She was certain he would do the same for this, he was already blaming himself for this.

"You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead."

Dustin's laugh echoed around the rock as Robin appeared beside her

"Nat!" She said, crouching down and pulling her into a gripping hug. "Thank god you guys are okay!" She hugged her back.

"I missed you guys," She said, grabbing Robin's hand so she could stand.

"It's crazy out there." Robin muttered as they joined the others. "Patrick-"
"I know," Nat interrupted. "We were there. We tried to get out onto the lake without them seeing us but Jason and Patrick, they followed us and- Christ. Robin it was crazy. It was like he was a puppet."

"Shit." Steve cursed, running his hands through his hair.

"I hate to say it but we might have a bigger problem than Vecna." Nancy said. "The cops, they've released Eddie's name. Jason gave a statement, Nat they- they've reported you missing."
"What?" She said, "Why?"

"I don't know." Dustin shrugged, "But they said you were last seen with Eddie and are now missing-"
"Christ on a bike." She muttered. "Remind me if I ever see Carver again, I'm punching him in the jaw."

"I tried calling you guys last night," Eddie said, grabbing the water canister off Max as she handed it over to him. He took a long gulp and then passed it to Nat. "But-uh… the walkie was busted. Drenched. So, I uh, did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran." He chuckled. Nat could've shook him. He didn't run, he kept her upright, he kept her sane, Jesus he kept her from drowning.

"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, no, I… I know exactly what time it was." He took his watch off his wrist, chucking it at Nancy. "The walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked."

Nancy caught it quickly and turned it over. "Nine twenty-seven." Nancy said.

"Same time that my flashlight went kablewey." Added Robin.

"Which means what exactly?" Asked Steve.

"That, that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick." Nancy explained.

"Well, we're one step closer, that means we now know how Vecna attacks,"

"And where he attacks from." Lucas said.

"Did you guys actually come up with a plan?" Nat asked, "I mean, we didn't really get the details before you left us the other day."

"Well," Said Max, "No, but now we know how and where he attacks from we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart."

"Like Dracula? Is that it?" Nat said, "How do we know that'll even kill him? Then there's still the small thing of proving that Eddie is innocent."

"Is he like a vampire?" Steve asked.

"It was a metaphor." Max said, rolling her eyes.

"A bullet should work on him right?" Eddie said.

"I say we chop his head off." Lucas chimed in, hands on his hips.

"Well I guess we could then show that to the cops." Nat shrugged.

"I'd say yes to all of the above, but the only problem is that we have no way into the Upside Down." Nancy puffed, sounding defeated.

"We need El to get her powers back."

"Wait, El, who is currently a few thousand miles away?" Nat said, "The superpowered girl?"

"Yeah," Steve said, "Everything was way easier with her, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, you mentioned her." Eddie said, looking past the others to Dustin who was pacing and muttering to himself. "Hey, Henderson's not cursed is he?"

"Cursed? No. Mental? Absolutely." Steve said, crossing his arms. They were all watching Dustin now, pacing back and forth, back and forth while looking down at the compass in his hands and back to the treeline.

"Boom!" He yelled suddenly, everyone fell immediately silent. "Bada… bada… boom." He was pointing at Steve accusingly. "I was right. Skull Rock was north."

"Seriously? You're serious?" Steve said, frustrated.

"Mm-hmm."

"This is Skull Rock!" Steve was gesturing wildly behind him to the large, very skull like rock. "Okay."

"Mm-hmm"

"You're totally, absolutely, one hundred percent, wrong right now."
"Where are they going with this?" Nat asked Robin as she took a sip from the water canister and passed it back to Eddie.

"I dunno, I mean, Dustin got us lost twice so."
"Explains why you took so long to get here." Nat muttered.

"Yes." Dustin said matter-of-factly. "And no."
"Oh my God." If Steve didn't care about his hair so much, Nat was sure he would have ripped it out.

"This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheeler's." He held the compass aloft so everyone could see it. "It was correct when we got in the car on Curly. 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. Dude! You're still wrong." Steve threw his hands up into the air.

"Except, it isn't faulty." Dustin countered. "Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?"

Lucas scratched the back of his head, then his eyes widened. "An electromagnetic field."

"Yep-"

"But that would mean that something with a strong EM field is really close." Nat inputted.

"Or really big." Dustin said, "And the compass is now deflecting the needle towards that power. So there's either a super big magnet around here, or…"

"There's a gate." Dustin clicked his fingers at Lucas.

"But we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy said. Nat vaguely remembered that was where they said one of the largest gates to the Upside Down had been closed, but if it was closed, surely there would be no electromagnetic field anymore.

"But what if there's another gate?" Dustin said, "A gate that we don't know about. It would have to be smaller, way less powerful."
"A snack-size gate." Robin said, grinning.

"How? Why?" Steve was looking as confused as Nat felt.

"No idea, all I know is something is causing the disturbance and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate." Dustin was smiling widely now. "And I hope it is, because then we have a way to Vecna. A shot at freeing Max from the curse."
"And proving Eddie's innocent." Nat said, nodding. Dustin had turned on his heel, looking at his compass.

"Woah, woah, wait. Where are you going?" Said Steve. "You're forgetting that Eddie is still a wanted man, Nat is classed as a missing person, we can't just go wandering around in the woods."

"This might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie." Dustin said, pointing the compass at them. "What say you, Eddie the Banished?"

Nat turned to look at Eddie, who was staring at the water canister in his hand, contemplatively. Everyone was watching him closely now. "I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor. Which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think it's a really bad idea." He looked from Dustin, then flicked his eyes to the sky, then to Nat. "But, uh, the Shire… The Shire is burning."

Dustin began to hop excitedly. Eddie slapped his hands on his knees and stood, looking sure. "So Mordor it is."

Nat smiled as Eddie stepped forwards to join Dustin. "Nat?" Dustin asked.

She looked at him, they had to end this, together. A fellowship, forged in unlikely circumstances to banish a great evil from the land, from their home. She nodded, "For the Shire." She looked at Eddie, "For Frodo."

He smiled back at her, this time the glisten in his eyes was not one of sadness or fear. "For Frodo."