Notes:
"The Dive" is a really cool episode, so I was very excited when I wrote this. Hopefully you like it too :)
The following day, Steve and Dustin headed to the store to grab some more food. As Max changed into new clothes in the bathroom, she couldn't help but stare at herself in the mirror. Black circles formed under her eye, expressing just how tired she was. Max had gotten little sleep.
Someone knocked on the door. "Max, you alright in there," Lucas asked.
"Yeah.. yeah," she stuttered. "Just braiding my hair."
After leaving the bathroom, she saw Steve and Dustin enter the basement just before she did.
Max called at the top of the staircase, "Ready to go?"
"Yep. Let's head out," Nancy replied.
Max stared out the window as they drove down the road. She listened to the group's conversation with one headphone in her ear.
"Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car for this visit?" Robin pleaded. "Cause this is gonna totally and royally suck."
Nancy shook her head. "It'll be fine."
"I just can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't."
"At least he can drink himself into feeling better," Steve commented in the back.
Max scoffed. "That's what my mom does…."
"Why don't we give it a trial?" Robin said. She pretended to talk to Eddie. " Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension, and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him," she imitated. " He's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. And, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed."
"Wait, wait, wait. Maybe we don't put it like that," Lucas suggested.
Nancy sighed. "We're one step closer to finding Vecna. That's what we say. That's what's important."
"See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference," Steve said, his mouth full of Pringles.
"Uh-huh…"
But as they pulled up, they first saw a squad of police cars. "Oh shit."
They got out of the car, and Max overheard Officer Powell tell a reporter, " Nothing to see." He ordered everyone to back up.
The gang hid behind a car.
"As many of you know, the Roane County line received a call a little after midnight… reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me."
Shit, that was where Eddie was staying.
"It was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney."
Max saw Lucas's face contort in horror. Patrick was on the basketball team, right? That must've been his friend.
"His limbs… his body, it was disfigured… There was an eyewitness on the scene, however. We have also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson. We encourage anyone with information to please come forward."
"This is not good. This is really not good," Steve whispered.
Yeah, no shit.
"You've got a lot of questions, and I'm going to answer as many as I can. Two o'clock at town hall, where anyone from the Hawkins community is welcome. But right now, I've got work to do, and I appreciate your understanding."
Suddenly, a voice came from Dustin's radio.
" Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler? "
"Eddie. Holy shit. Are you okay?" he asked.
" Nah, man. Pretty- Pretty goddamn far from okay. "
"Where is he?" Robin asked.
"Where are you?"
" Skull Rock. Do you know it? "
"Uh, yeah. That's near Cornwallis and-"
"Garrett, yeah. I know where that is," Steve interrupted.
"Hold tight. We're coming. We're coming. We're coming!"
Max sprinted into the car, and Nancy reeved the engine. Backing out, Max held onto her seat. Nancy was speeding.
Thank god the cops were distracted by something entirely different.
It was already the afternoon by the time they parked the car. Grabbing her backpack, Dustin led the way, following his compass. Steve couldn't help but argue with him, though.
Max followed at the back along with Lucas. It was dead silence between them as Max listened to Running Up That Hill, but she soon noticed how eerie it was not to hear Lucas make any sound. Even when he wasn't talking, he was still fidgeting.
It used to annoy the shit out of Max, but now... Now she knew something was wrong.
As Steve and Dustin changed directions, Max decided to make some sort of small talk.
"Okay, so apparently we're going this way now? I swear to God, if they get us lost…."
Lucas didn't reply. His face displayed grief. Something Max was all too familiar with.
Max stopped. "Hey, you okay?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just… thinking about Patrick. You know?"
She nodded. "Yeah.
"I mean, it's… it's like, why him?" Lucas whispered. "But then, I remember this one day, he… he came to practice with a black eye. He said he fell, but clearly he was lying. It's like everyone Vecna targets… has something in their life. Something that's…."
"Hurting them. Haunting them."
"Yeah."
Lucas sighed. "I… I didn't really know Patrick, so it was easy to just look the other way, I guess." Then, looking her in the eyes, he said apologetically, "But I did know you. And I'm sorry I wasn't there."
"It's not your fault."
"No-"
"I disappeared," she mumbled.
Max felt a rush of guilt. She'd abandoned him. She'd hurt him.
"No, no, you didn't. I just didn't look hard enough. Okay?" Lucas tried to make her understand. "But I see you now. I see you. "
Her eyes welled with tears. Max pushed them back. "I see you too, Lucas. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too."
They needed to follow the others, and together, Max and Lucas walked side by side. Something they should've always done. Something they'd longed to do.
About ten minutes later and they had reached the rock. Max could see Eddie drop down from a tree and hug Dustin, but she ignored their conversation.
Eddie ate his food before recounting what had happened the previous night, so the others just stood there waiting.
Max thought it was somewhat awkward.
She was so relieved when he had finished.
"Alright, we need to know everything," Dustin told him. "Spill it."
"Okay, well… Jason and his friends found me at the boathouse, so I tried to hide. At some point, I realized that wasn't much of an option. I tried to get the boat started, but it… uh… just would go. So instead, I had to paddle it, and if I'm being completely honest, it's harder than it seems," Eddie explained. "Jason's a fast swimmer, so I thought I was screwed. Until…"
"What?" Steve asked.
"You already know that the kid died-"
"Patrick-" Lucas said.
"Yeah, him. He just… stopped swimming. He froze just like Chrissy had. And then… he was pulled under the water. Jason and I just waited for him to resurface, which he technically did, but he was floating this time. He died the same way Chrissy did- his bones… they snapped in half, and his eyes were pushed into his skull."
"So he was tranced…" Nancy said.
"Yeah, the only difference was that his eyes were open from what I could see."
"Wait, so, are there different types of trances?" Robin asked.
"So far, we've seen only three trances. Once at the trailer, once at the school, and once at the graveyard. All three rolled their eyes back, though I'm not sure about Fred's. So maybe, yeah," Nancy concluded. "What happened after?"
"I swam away. When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh… my walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently," Eddie scoffed. "I ran."
Nancy gazed at him. "Do you know what time this was? The attack."
"Yeah, no, I… I know exactly what time it was," he responded, taking his watch off. "My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked."
Eddie threw it to Nancy. She stared at it. "9:27."
"-Same time our flashlights went kablooey," Robin said.
"Which means what, exactly?" Steve asked.
"That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick."
Robin breathed. "Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks."
"And where he attacks from," Lucas added.
Max nodded her head. "So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart."
"If he has a heart," Robin joked. Max noticed how she did that, how Robin would try and brighten the mood.
"A stake? Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve asked. He was serious.
Oh my god…
Max sighed. "It was a metaphor."
"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie commented.
Lucas shot his idea. "I say we chop his head off."
"Yeah I'd say all of the above, but we can't do any of that 'til we find a way into the Upside-Down."
"We need El to get her powers back," Max replied longingly.
"Everything was way easier. We had this girl. She had superpowers-" Steve tried to describe to Eddie.
"Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her." Eddie looked at Dustin, who paced back and forth. "Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?"
"Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely."
Max jumped as Dustin screamed. "Boom!"
Holy shit…
"Bada… bada… boom," he whispered. "I was right. Skull Rock was north."
"Seriously? You're serious?" Steve asked dumbfoundedly.
"Mhm."
"This is Skull Rock. Okay?"
"Mhm."
"You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now."
"Yes. And no."
Steve looked as if he was going to lose his damn mind. "Oh my God."
"This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. Correct when we got in the car on Curly. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off," Dustin explained. "When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was."
"So you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong."
"Except it isn't faulty. Lucas, remember what can affect a compass?"
"An electromagnetic field…."
"Yep."
"Sorry. I must've skipped that class," Robin uttered.
"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So either there's some super big magnet around here, or…."
"There's a gate," Lucas said excitedly.
"But we're nowhere near the lab," Nancy pointed out.
"But what if, somehow, there's another gate? A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful."
"Snack-size gate," Robin responded.
That was one way to describe it.
"How? Why?" Steve asked.
"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is because then we'd have a way to Vecna. And a shot at freeing Max from this curse."
Dustin began to head down the hill, but Steve called him. " Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go hike in the woods."
"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie. What say you, Eddie the Banished?"
Eddie rubbed the back of his neck. "I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire… the Shire is burning." Dustin started hopping. "So Mordor it is," Eddie ended.
"What is Mordor?" Steve wondered aloud. Eddie ran to grab his things. "Get your stuff, dude. Let's go."
The walk through the woods took forever. Lover's Lake was so far away that it was already night by the time they arrived.
Max's legs hurt like hell, and the little sleep she got didn't make things easier.
Suddenly, Dustin started sprinting, and Max groaned as she chased after him.
"Dustin?" Eddie called. "Can you slow down? Dustin?"
"I think we're getting close-"
Eddie narrowly caught Dustin in time before he could fall into the water. "Watch your step, big guy."
Max stared at the lake in distress. Shit. Why'd it have to be at Lover's Lake? It's the hardest portal to get to, if there even was one.
"You gotta be shitting me," Steve sighed.
"Yeah," Eddie said. "I thought these woods were familiar…."
"Lover's Lake," Robin whispered.
Dustin gazed across the water. "This is… confounding."
"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Max asked.
"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening," Nancy said. "Maybe Vecna's the same way."
"Yeah, only one way to find out," Steve responded.
Eddie led them to a boat covered by a tarp, and lifting it off, he and Steve pushed it into the water. Eddie did it more forcefully, though.
"Easy. I- I said easy, man."
"Sorry, dude."
They tried to help Robin onto the boat, but she declined. Max laughed as she used their heads for support.
"Yeah, I'm just gonna do that."
The boys retorted with sarcastic comments.
Eddie was next.
Then Nancy.
And when Dustin tried to get in, Eddie held him back.
"Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us?" he asked. "This thing holds three people tops, okay?"
Nancy added, "It's better this way, okay? You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble."
"You keep an eye out! " Dustin responded angrily. "It's my goddamn theory."
"You heard Nance," Robin said.
"Who put her in charge?"
"I did."
Nancy reached out her hand. "Compass."
Rolling his eyes, he reluctantly handed it over.
Steve threw his backpack to Dustin.
"Ow."
Steve climbed aboard as they headed off.
"You said three."
"Sorry," he whispered.
Dustin watched through his binoculars to watch what they were doing on the boat. Max and Lucas couldn't see much, but they saw figures moving.
"It's my turn," Lucas said.
"No, it's-"
"Just hand him the binoculars, Dustin."
Sighing, he removed them from his neck and shoved them to Lucas.
Suddenly, Lucas called, "They're stopping. What are they stopping for?"
Guys grabbed the radio. "Guys, what's going on?" Silence. "Come on, talk to me. What's going on?"
Robin's voice crackled through. " Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital "aah!"
About a minute passed before Lucas said, "Ugh, when did Steve get so hairy?"
"Right?" Dustin agreed. "I keep telling him he needs to tame that jungle, but he claims the ladies dig it."
Max paused. "Let me see."
Handing her the binoculars, she stared at Steve.
Goddamn.
Like seriously. Goddamn.
Listen, Max had never been attracted to Steve. Not even once. The closest he was to her was like a brother. But as soon as she saw his chest, she could see the appeal.
With his abs and hair, it was pretty impressive.
Max finally removed them, and Dustin chuckled. "You guys realize, if there's a gate down there, it's technically a water gate."
Neither she nor Lucas responded.
"Watergate," Dustin laughed.
Suddenly they heard a radio beep, and then…
"Down by the water!" an officer yelled.
"Shit, down," Lucas whispered, grabbing Max's back. She would've been annoyed if he'd done this a week ago. But now…
"It was on this shoreline," the officer said.
Robin abruptly chattered through the walkie, " Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein. Steve found the gate- " Dustin quickly shut it off.
"Cops," she said hushedly.
"Shit, shit, shit," Dustin swore.
Lucas shook his head. "We can't let them find Eddie."
An idea popped into Max's head.
"Stay with me," she said. "Hey, officers!"
They attempted to quiet her. "Max!"
"Over here! I found the killer! This way!"
"Shit. Go!"
Dashing through the woods, Max used the rest of her energy to get as far away as possible.
It only lasted so long, though.
Behind her, Max heard Dustin land hard on the ground, and both she and Lucas spun around.
Their luck had run out as an officer pinned Dustin's arms behind his back.
Shit.