"Nancy!" Steve was yelling louder now.

"Music," Max said, spinning on the spot, "Eddie we need music!"

Nat pushed past Eddie, darting down the hall to his bedroom, slamming the door open she collapsed on next to his dresser, pulling out the bottom drawer. The others were behind her now as she stood and tipped the contents of the drawer onto Eddie's bed. Chucking the draw back onto the floor she started rifling through the tapes with Robin.

Metallica… Guns 'N' Roses… Motley Crue… AC/DC… Twisted Sister… Nothing that Nat could imagine Nancy Wheeler listening to on a daily basis.

"What the hell is this?" Robin yelled, chucking tapes around.

"Guys you need to hurry up!" Dustin shouted from the hall.

"What the hell are we even looking for?" Eddie panicked, rummaging around in other drawers.

"Madonna? Bowie? Blondie? Beatles? Music? We need music!" Robin cried, hysterical.

"This. Is. Music!" Eddie was violently shaking an Iron Maiden tape at her.

Nat gasped, pushing herself up and shoved Eddie away from the drawers. "Move it!" She said, digging her hands right into the back of a drawer filled with t-shirts. She dug and dug and dug, "Aha! Will this work?" She showed it to Robin.

"Queen? Yeah-that'll work." Robin snatched the tape from Nat, bounding down the hall to Max who was waiting, Walkman open ready for the tape.

"Side two, track two!" Nat called, sliding back into the room. Steve was still shaking Nancy violently. Max, slammed the casette into the Walkman and closed it.

"Steve!" She called, throwing the Walkman upwards. There was a dull smack as he caught it, fumbling with the headphones, he was about to put them onto Nancy's head when she gasped, tumbling backwards to the floor.

"Holy shit." Nat cursed, turning, her hands over her face. "Shit. Shit. Shit!"

It took Steve over half an hour to calm Nancy down enough to get her out of the Upside Down. When they were both back in Hawkins he sat her on Eddie's sofa, she was pale and trembling. Nat handed Nancy a glass of water from the kitchen, she took it hesitantly, taking small sips.

"What happened Nance?" Robin asked, taking a seat opposite her. Nat was leaning up against the kitchen counter, Eddie by her side. The others were dotted about the room, watching Nancy with concern. She took another sip of water and swallowed dryly.

"He- He showed me," She said hoarsely. "Things that haven't happened yet… The most awful things." She was shaking her head slowly. "I saw a dark cloud, spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this… giant creature with… a gaping mouth." Nat had clenched her fist around the bottom of her shirt, twisting it and untwisting it. "And this creature wasn't alone… There were so many monsters… An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighbourhoods, our homes."

Nat pictured hordes and hordes of the most vile creatures she could imagine, marching and flying through the streets, breaking down doors, smashing through windows, killing and killing and killing.

"And then he showed me my Mom. And Holly." Nancy's eyes were brimming with tears as she whispered. "Mike. And they… they were all…" She took a shuddering breath, allowing her tears to fall.

Nat nearly jumped as she felt Eddie's hand close over her fist, stopping her from twisting her shirt. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, his eyes were still focused on Nancy.

"Okay, but-" Steve said, causing Nat's attention to snap back to the group. Eddie's hand didn't move. "He's just trying to scare you, Nance. Right? I mean, it's not real."

"Not yet." Nancy said, looking at him seriously. "But there… there was something else. He showed me gates, four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie's trailer, but they didn't stop growing. This wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home."

"Four chimes." Max said, her mouth a thin line. "Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly."

"I heard them too." Nancy whispered.

Max was shaking her head as she scoffed, "He's been telling us his plan the whole time."

"Four kills." Lucas said. "Four gates… End of the world."

Nat took a step forward, away from the counter, Eddie dropped his hand from hers in response. "He hasn't killed four times." She said, "There was Chrissy and Patrick and…" She snapped her fingers.

"Fred…" Nancy added.

"Right, so we just have to stop him before he kills again. Stop the kills, stop the chimes… stop the end of the world."

"It's not that simple." Dustin said, "We don't know who he's going to choose next."

"No, we don't." Nat said, "But he spared Nancy for a reason, that means he's toying with us right? He saw us in the Upside down, through this hive mind or whatever- so, if he's going to pick someone next, wouldn't it just make sense that it was one of us?"

"That's reassuring." Robin muttered.

"Try Mike again," Steve said to Max, who turned and punched a number into the phone on the wall. She twisted the cord around her finger impatiently. Max slammed the phone down after a minute, no answer.

"Same shit," She muttered, turning back to them. "The phone's been busy for what, three days now? Something's wrong."

"She's right," Nancy muttered as she stood, pacing towards the window. "It can't just be coincidence. Whatever is happening in Lenora is connected to all of this… I'm sure of it. But Vecna can't hurt them, not if he's dead." Nancy spun on the spot, her eyes casting over all of them. "We have to go back in there, back to the upside down."

Eddie stepped up close to Nat, "No, no, no- Nope." He was shaking his head furiously.

"Let's think this through." Steve was on his feet now, closing in on Nancy.

"What is there to think through?" She said.

"We barely made it out of there last time."
"Yeah, because we weren't prepared." Nancy argued.

Nat looked up at Eddie, he was rubbing a hand over his face. "So we get prepared," She offered, Nancy looked at her hopefully.

"You can't be serious." Eddie said, turning Nat to face him with a firm hand on her shoulder.

"I'm serious about not wanting the world to end." She said with a huff.

"It's suicide. You-" He stopped himself, "We could die."

"We could die anyway."

"Look, we'll be prepared this time. We'll get weapons and protection." Nancy's voice was pleading. "We'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him."

"It's like you're forgetting the only reason you survived is because he wanted you to!" Steve groaned. "He's not scared of us."

"And for good reason." Robin was on her feet now, "We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now?"

"Vecna."

"Henry."

"One."

"Right, we've learned something new about Vecna, slash Henry, slash One. He's a number, like Eleven. Only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin." She was talking so fast she almost tripped over her words.

"Robin, you're doing the thing." Nat said. Robin glared at her.

"My point is, he's super powerful!" She said, "He could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It's not a fair fight."

"So then, why fight fair?" It was Dustin who spoke up now. "You're right, he is like Eleven, but that gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven's strengths, her weaknesses."

"Weaknesses?" Erica said sarcastically.

"Yes. When El remote travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true for Vecna."

"So we have to find him before he decides to kill again, wait around until he does and then go in for the kill?" Nat said, "That could take too long, or worse, take no time at all."

"You're also forgetting he wouldn't be completely defenceless. Do you remember the army of bats?" Steve said, gesturing to his neck where a large red mark had bloomed.

"True, we'll have to find a way past them." Dustin muttered. "A distraction, somehow."

"And how do we do that exactly?" Eddie asked.

Dustin shrugged, "No idea. But once they're out of the way he doesn't stand a chance. It'll be like slaying a sleeping Dracula in his coffin."

"It's a good theory," Robin said, "But like Nat just said, we don't know a pattern to his killings, we don't know when Vecna is gonna kill next or who."

"Yeah we do…" They turned to Max, she had her arms crossed and was looking contemplatively at the floor. "I can still feel him. I'm still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush and I draw his focus back to me."

"No. Max, you can't." Lucas was staring at her painfully. "He'll kill you."

"I survived before. I can survive again." She said, confidence filling her. "I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off. Stab him in the heart. Blow him up with something, or whatever. I really don't care how you get this asshole in his grave… Just… Whatever it is… Whatever you do… Try not to miss."

A silence overcame them, so loud it was almost deafening. Nat had her teeth clenched together. When nobody spoke she sighed, "Right. You heard her. Let's kill this son of a bitch."

Eddie slapped a phonebook onto the dining table. "If we're really doing this," He said, rifling through the pages. "This is where we go." He stopped, pointing to an advert for a place called The War Zone. "I've been there once, it's huge. They've got everything you need for, uh…"

"Killing random supernatural beings?" Nat offered.

"Basically."

"Do you think fake Rambo has enough guns there?" Robin asked, tracing her fingers over the model posing with varying weapons of warfare. "Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal."

"Well thank our lucky stars it is." Nat and Eddie said in unison. She smirked at him.

"This place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of main roads, we oughta be able to avoid cops and uh, angry hicks."

"If we're trying to avoid angry hicks," Erica said, "Maybe we shouldn't go to some place called the War Zone."

"Normally I would agree," Nancy added. "But we need the weapons. So I think it's worth the risk."

"Me too." Lucas said, Nat nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but is it worth the time? It'll take all day to bike there and back." Dustin said.

"Who said anything about bikes?" Eddie countered.

"Last time I checked Eddie, your van was still abandoned somewhere by Lovers Lake." Nat said.

"Unless you have some car we don't know about?" Steve added.

"It's not exactly a car Steve." Eddie stood from his stoop so he was eye to eye with him. "And it's not exactly mine, but… it'll do." He turned to Nat, smirking.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me." She chuckled as the realization dawned on her.

"Hey-uh, Red. Have you got a ski mask or a bandanna? Something like that?" Eddie asked. Max disappeared for a few minutes and returned, chucking a white mask at Eddie smirking.

"Oh yeah, cause Michael Myers won't draw anyone's attention." Robin said sarcastically as Eddie donned the mask. Nat was chucking into her fist. He looked ridiculous. She could feel him scowling at her beneath the mask. He crossed the room and opened the door, checking the coast was clear before turning back to them.

"Come on." Nat followed him out of the door as he darted across the trailer park. Ducking behind anything they could as they passed. She knew exactly where they were heading.

There were only two trailers in the park which were driveable, one was owned by a lovely elderly couple who Nat had affectionately called the Wrinkley's, the other belonged to two of the worst people you could imagine… and that was only because they complained too much about Hellfire Club and Eddie's taste for rock music. It wasn't hard for Nat to guess which one they were taking. Eddie waved them forward around the last trailer, a medium sized Winnebago. The couple were sat out the front, so engrossed in complaining about how terrible their TV reception was that they didn't spot them disappearing around the back. Eddie went straight to the rear window and pulled it open, he turned to Nat.

"Up you get," He crouched down, lacing his hands together. Nat stepped into them, hoisting herself up onto the ledge. Eddie pushed her up from underneath and she rolled over herself onto the sofa. Eddie followed her in, albeit much less gracefully. He pulled the Michael Myers mask off and brushed hair from his face.

"That was suffocating." He muttered. Nat moved forward through the RV towards the passenger seat at the front. There was a small click as Eddie locked the door and dull thumps as the other made their way in through the window.

Nat sat down in the passenger seat, Eddie less than a second behind her, he had already pulled his swiss army knife from his pocket. Pulling wires from under the dash, he clipped at them expertly.

"Gar will never believe we've done this." She said, grinning. "It's too bad we can't drive it past his house."

Eddie smiled at her as he stripped the wires back, "Told you I'd steal this sucker one day."

"Where'd you learn how to do this?" Steve asked, coming up behind them.

"Well, when the other dads were teaching their kids how to fish or play ball, my old man was teaching me how to hot-wire." He twisted the wires together expertly, Nat was watching his hands as they worked. "Now, I swore to myself I wouldn't wind up like he did, but now I'm wanted for murder, and soon, grand theft auto." He touched the wires together, one, twice. "So you know, I'm really living up to that Munson name."

"Uh- Eddie," Robin stuttered from next to Steve. "I'm not sure I love the idea of you driving."

Eddie turned to Robin smiling. "Oh, I'm just starting this sucker. Harrington's got her, don't ya big boy." Steve recoiled a little at Eddie's look. Nat sniggered and rolled her eyes.

"Stop flirting and get on with it," She said. Eddie touched the wires together again and with a loud bang, the ignition started. The radio blared out, making Nat jump.

"Yes!" Nat cheered, only to be cut off by a loud banging on the window. She turned, the face of the man leering in at her.

"Hey! Open this door!" She smirked at him, flipping him the bird.

"Go, go, go, go!" Eddie leapt out of the drivers seat, Steve taking his place quickly. Slamming it into drive, Steve put his foot to the floor.

"Everyone hold on to something!" Nat felt strong hands on her shoulders, pulling her back into the seat, she looked over to see Eddie grinning behind her. The RV took off like a shot, ripping the tent down outside. Bouncing over the grass, Nat let out a wild whoop laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. Eddie was cheering behind her, she reached her hand up to his, which was still pinned to her shoulder and squeezed it.

"Shit they look pissed!" Dustin said.

"It's not every day you lose your house and car in one fell swoop!" Mentioned Robin. Nat let out another cackle of delight.

Eddie's breath was hot on Nat's ear as he whispered, "Next time I'll teach you how to hot-wire." She felt a tingle go up her spine.

"Ten bucks says I can do it quicker than you." She said, smirking.

"Oh, you are so on."

Under the circumstances Steve was an excellent driver. He had navigated the other trailers expertly as they left the trailer park, and now he was driving carefully, so as not to raise suspicion. After about fifteen minutes, Nat swapped with Nancy who was holding a map in her hands. She clambered backwards and took a seat next to Eddie at the table. The sun was beginning to set now.

"That was awesome." She said, nudging him. He smiled at her.

"Would have been even better under normal circumstances." He said.

"Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't have attempted GTA." She countered.

He chuckled, "Hmm, I suppose that's true."

Nat glanced around, Dustin, Lucas, Erica and Max were sat on the sofas at the back. Robin up front with Steve and Nancy.

"You know, if you'd've asked me what I was planning on doing for Spring Break, I don't think Id've mentioned this." She said.

"You mean being a missing person, hanging with a murderer and fighting interdimensional monsters wasn't part of your plans?" He said mockingly. "Nat, I have to say I'm disappointed."

Nat smiled, although it did not reach her eyes. "No… My spring break would have been the same as every other, cheering Corroded Coffin on with those five drunks."

"I don't think they were really listening."

"I'll have you know that Craig was very passionate when screaming along to The Final Nail." Nat said seriously.

"That's our worst song." He countered.

"I know… Still know every word."

"Best groupie we could ask for." He slung his arm over her shoulder, pulling her into him. Out of the corner of Nat's eye she saw Robin turn to look at them and smile.

"More campaigns," She continued. "Maybe you could finally let Jeff be DM this time."

"Never…" He whispered as she chuckled.

"What were your plans?" She asked, "I know fighting interdimensional monsters wasn't in your calendar."

"Oh, you know, the usual." He said. "Band, campaigns, the usual…" He paused, his head moved slightly so he could look at her. "I did have one other thing planned though,"

"Uh-huh? What was that?" She asked.

"I- Uh- Well there was this-"

"Eddie," Dustin interrupted from the back of the RV. "I think we've got a plan for the bats." Eddie nodded, smiling lightly at Nat before he removed his arm from her shoulders and stood, moving to the back of the RV to Dustin and the others. Nat sat, looking down at her hands, which she had been rubbing together nervously. She glanced up, Robin gave her a meek but reassuring smile.

Steve drove through the night. Nat had curled herself up in the corner by the table to sleep, leaning her head on her elbow so she could sleep. By the time Nat awoke it was well past dawn and Steve was just pulling the RV into the parking lot of the War Zone. He parked around the back, the RV out of view from the entrance which was looking extremely full already. Killing the engine, Steve stood and stretched.

"Okay, let's do this." He said, the others were rising, Nat made to stand. "Woah," Robin said, holding a hand up to her. "Nat, you and Eddie should stay here. Can't exactly go wandering about as a missing person, you know?" Nat nodded and sat back down.

"Dustin, Lucas, you guys wait outside the RV." Steve said, "Any trouble, come get us."

They all made their way outside, shutting the door behind them with a soft click.

"Too bad I'm missing," Nat said, standing. "I could've bought my first gun."

"I could've taught you how to shoot." Eddie said from where he was leaning by the door.

"Was that part of your grand plan for Spring Break?" She mused. He looked down, hair falling in front of his face.

"Not the gun part." He mumbled.

"What?" she asked, not quite hearing him. He looked up at her briefly.

"I said, not the gun part." A little louder this time. Nat's head tilted slightly.

"So you were going to teach me to shoot something else?" She chuckled, "Crossbow? Longbow? Slingshot?"

He chuckled, "No. Not, shoot anything… or do anything." He had moved his hand to his hair, running it through it like he couldn't find the right words, he pressed his mouth together.

"Eddie?" Nat asked, taking a step towards him. "You're not making much sense."

"I-" He sighed, the knot in Nat's stomach had started to build. She hated when he was at war with himself, she felt as if he was trying to think of a way to tell her that everything should have been so different, could have been so different, if he had only taken her home after the campaign that night. Maybe it wouldn't have stopped all of this, maybe Chrissy still would have died, maybe Hawkins will have still looked for someone to blame. Certainly, there would have still been Vecna.

"Eddie."

He looked at her, shook his head slightly. "Screw it."

Nat didn't have any time to react, he was beside her in a heartbeat, hand cupping one side of her face so gently it was barely there. His head leant down as he tilted her face up and then his lips were on hers. Nat's heart had jumped to her throat, there was nothing else, just the feel of his lips on hers. His mouth was slow, searching, as if he was waiting for her to push him away. Her hands found their way to his jacket, pulling him closer into her. There was a low rumble in his throat as he pushed her back into the wall behind her, deepening the kiss. She wanted this, God she needed this, this feeling of him against her, the touch of his lips on hers, the urgency in which he was kissing her now, as if he was starving.

He pulled away then and Nat let out a small gasp, her breath catching in her throat. He stayed there, his forehead against hers, their noses almost touching. Her hands were still gripped tightly onto his jacket, she could pull him back into her, keep him there so he could never be apart from her. Nat felt the heat rise into her cheeks, she was sure from where Eddie's hand was resting that he would be able to feel how warm she had gotten.

Eddie opened his mouth slightly to speak, but a click broke them apart. He stepped quickly away from her as the door slammed open, Dustin and Lucas scrambling in, slamming the door behind them. Nat could have slid down the wall behind her, her legs were quaking.

"We've got company." was all Dustin said.