They piled into the Wheeler's car after getting Eddie's snacks. "Not to be a wimp but can I sit in the car for this one? Cause this is gonna suck." Robin was sitting in the passenger seat and looked at the driver.
"It'll be fine." Nancy gripped the steering wheel.
"I can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really can't." Robin couldn't imagine what it was like to be locked up in a tiny boat house hiding from the cops for a murder you didn't commit.
"At least he can drink himself into feeling better." Steve was sitting in the very back of the car with Lyn in his lap and Dustin across from him.
"It's what my mom does," Max whispers. Lucas gave her a look of concern.
"Why don't we give it a trial run? Hey Eddie, good news first, we got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack of beer. Oh, and we found Vecna. The bad news is that he's in that other dark, much scarier dimension, and the gates are closed so we have no way to get to him. He's entirely shut off to us so basically, you're screwed. And, no, I know you were already screwed but now you're double, triple screwed." Robin began to spiral.
"Wait. Maybe we don't put it like that." Lucas put his hands up to calm her down.
"We are one step close to finding Vecna." Nancy pointed out. "That's what we say. That's what is important."
"See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference." He feeds Lyn a chip before eating one himself.
Lyn was exhausted after Vecna released her. She couldn't go to sleep that night. She stayed up, wondering who had to die because she fought it. "Oh shit." Nancy's cursing made Lyn sit up. Steve leaned back so her head didn't hit his chin.
"Fuck, no." She whines at seeing all the police cars surrounding the dealer's house.
The police were trying to keep the reports back. They got out of the car. Lyn looked out at the lake and saw a glimpse of a figure with broken limbs falling into the lake. "You okay?" Steve whispers.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She forces her mind to clear. She knew he wouldn't do anything in front of all these people.
"This way." Nancy led them away from the crowd and past the yellow tape that was trying to keep them out.
They hid behind a tree while they listened to the sheriff give his report to the news. "As many of you know by now, the Roane County line received a call a little after midnight reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan and I arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's lake about ten yards from that house. It was there we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High School, Patrick McKinney." Lee put a hand on Lucas's shoulder. "His limbs, his body was disfigured. There was an eyewitness on the scene. We have also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson." He held up a picture of the teen. Steve held Dustin back from going over there. "We encourage anyone with information to please come forward."
"This is not good. This is not good." Steve shook his head.
"I miss Hopper." Lyn glared at the new Sheriff. She knew he was only doing his job, but he was digging a thorn into her side.
"You've got a lot of questions and I'm going to answer as many as I can. Two o'clock at the town hall, where anyone from the Hawkin's community is welcome. But right now, I've got work to do and I appreciate your understanding." He walks away from the yellow tape to go towards the house.
"Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler?" Eddie's voice came from the backpack.
Lyn grabs it in a hurry, not wanting anyone to hear and give away their location. "Eddie, are you okay? Where are you?" She walks away from the prying ears of strangers. The group followed her.
"No, Rosey Cheeks, I'm far from okay. I'm at skull rock. I took you out here for a picnic once." He was shaking as he leaned against the rocks.
"Hold tight, we're going to come and get you." She led them into the forest.
When they were a mile out, the questions started. "Rosey Cheeks? A picnic? Is Eddie your ex?" Dustin noticed that Eddie would stare at his sister when she came to pick him up. But, he thought it was because he was still mad about whatever falling out they had that made them stop being friends.
"None of that matters." Lyn needed to get to him before anyone else did.
"You know this is why you're vulnerable to Vecna because you keep secrets. I bet they aren't even that bad." Dustin narrows his eyes at her back.
She turns around sharply making him stumble back to not crash into her. "Yes, I went on a picnic with Eddie. I went out on many dates with him. I kept him a secret because I was too scared to be in a relationship. Because I didn't want to give him everything. So, I took what I wanted and left him with nothing until I didn't want anything." Looking back on it, she realized how much she enjoyed having all the control in the relationship because she wasn't in control of anything else in her life. "One thing Vecna taught me is that I am a piece of shit."
"That's bad. But, I don't think that makes you a bad person." Nancy, having heard it before, spoke up.
"But, that's not what Vecna taunts me about. He haunts me for how much I hate our mother." She looks at Dustin. "I'm not talking about teenage angst. I'm talking about a deep gut resentment that I have to work my ass off to keep her cloth and fed. And soon, I'll have to work even harder to keep the roof over her head. I fantasize about her dying in freak accidents and I get a lot of pleasure from it. Is that bad enough for you, Dustin, because that is only the beginning? Do you want to hear about depression and suicidal thoughts? How the only thing stopping me from ending my struggling existence is that you would be stuck with the burden of mom? Is that what you want to hear? No more secrets." Dustin steps back as Lyn walks forwards. He opens and closes his mouth. He couldn't come up with anything to say.
Steve got in between them and grabbed her face. "We all have dark thoughts. I wished my dad would die when he yelled horrible shit at me."
"My mom doesn't do any of that abusive stuff." She whimpered as the anger melted away and shame took over at everyone hearing that.
"Neglect is a form of abuse. Some would argue the worst kind." Robin gave her a hug from behind.
Everyone joined the hug. "You're not in this alone," Dustin told her. "She is my mom too, so by right she is also my burden. You can't keep her for yourself." Lyn laughed at them accepting her.
"She's gonna be my mother-in-law, so she's mine too." Steve kissed her forehead.
"You just had to make it sappy." Max sighed as she pulled away.
Dustin was leading the group with a compass and a map. They broke off into small groups but they were still within eye distance from each other. Dustin, Lyn, and Steve were in the front. "Dude, I'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way." Steve tried to reason with him.
"It's north. I'm positive. I checked the map." Dustin followed his compass.
"You do realize Skull Rock is a super popular make-out spot, right?" Steve asked.
"I don't know why, it's not like walking through the woods makes me want to suck face." She didn't understand when Eddie or Steve showed it to her. It was a cool rock, but it was not a romantic sight.
"My point is that I made it popular. I brought girls here, they ended up bringing guys here, and so on." He didn't like thinking about Eddie showing her his spot. "We are headed in the wrong direction." He took a left turn.
"I got to agree with him on this one." Lyn followed him.
"Steve! Lyn! This is not a time to separate." He whines.
"Then let's not. Trust me." Steve waves for him to follow. Dustin followed them but complained the whole time that he was taking them off course. "Boom." Steve pushed some bushes apart to reveal the rock. "Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid cocky little face." He brags as he helps Lyn step through the bushes.
"It doesn't make sense." Dustin looks at his compass. He knew he followed the map, so why was Steve able to take them to the rock when he wasn't going north?
Steve put his thumb under his four fingers to mimic him talking. "Yeah, yeah even with it staring you in the face you can't admit it. You can't admit you're wrong, you little butthead."
Eddie jumps out from his hiding place behind the rocks. "I concur, Dustin Henderson is a total butthead."
Dustin ran to hug him. "Jesus, we thought you were a goner."
"Yeah, man, me too. Me too." He pats his back.
"I can't believe you brought this chair to make out with girls in." She looks at the wooden chair that sat under the rock formation.
"I'm sorry, I didn't carry a recliner into the woods." Steve rolled his eyes.
"Eddie." Robin cheered when the rest of the group caught up to them.
"So, what happened last night?" Dustin asked.
Eddie told them about the jocks finding him and trying to chase him on the lake when Patrick got lifted in the air. The jocks backed off and he was able to get away by swimming across the lake. "When I got to the shore, I tried to call you guys but my walkie was busted." He drank the water they brought with them. "So, I did the thing that I do now, apparently, I ran." He let out a bitter chuckle.
"It's not like you had another choice. What other option was there? Let the jocks kill you." She crosses her arms. Eddie looks down at the ground. He knew she was right, but it didn't make him feel any better.
"Do you know what time the attack was?" Nancy asked.
"Yeah, I know the exact time it was because my walkie wasn't the only thing to get soaked." He threw his watch at her.
"9:27." Nancy read.
"Right when he let Lyn go." Robin looks over at her friend.
"What?" Eddie turned to her.
"Yeah, it was kind of badass. She was able to mentally hold him off." Dustin stops pacing but keeps his stare on his compass to say.
"Dustin, someone else died." Lyn scolds him. He ignored her to go on pacing.
"If you think about it, that attack saved Eddie from the jocks. So, don't think of you not dying as sentencing someone else to death, think of it as saving Eddie." Steve tried to make her feel better. Lyn stared at him, not knowing what to say.
Nancy moved them on. "So, let's think about the information we have."
"We know how Vecna attacks," Robin stated.
"And where he attacks from," Lucas adds.
"So now we need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart." Max would love to be the one to do it.
"If he even has a heart." Robin thought the undead wizard was running on evil alone.
"A stake? Is he like a vampire? Is he a vampire?" Steve looked around the group confused.
"It was a metaphor." Max sighed at the older male stupidity.
"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie asked.
"I say, we chop his head off." Lucas put his hands on his hips.
"Maybe, he has to die like the Demogorgon with fire." Lyn thought out loud.
"I would want all of the above, but we can't do any of that until we find a way into the Upside Down." Nancy reminds them to not get ahead of themselves.
"We need El to get her powers back." Max hated feeling so helpless.
"Everything was way easier." Steve turns to Eddie. "We had this girl. She had superpowers…"
"Superpowers, yeah, you mentioned her before." He looks at Lyn. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. It's Dustin I'm worried about." She watches him mutter to himself.
"He's fine, if he wasn't acting mental I would be worried." Steve shrugged.
"Boom!" He turns to point at Steve. "Bada… Bada… Boom… I was right."
"You didn't even say right. It's Bada bing, bada boom." He rolled his eyes.
"Maybe your right about a stupid saying, but I was right about Skull Rock being North." Dustin brags.
"Seriously? You're serious." Steve shook his head in frustration. Dustin hummed as he nodded smugly. "This is skull rock, okay?" He pointed at the rock shaped like a skull. "You're absolutely, 100 percent wrong."
"Yes," He leaned in to say. "And no."
"Oh my god." Steve ran a hand through his hair.
"Who cares, Dustin? We have bigger problems." Lyn normally indulged their brotherly fights but right now wasn't the time.
"It relates to our problem, let me get to it. This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers. It was correct when we got in the car. 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." He held it up.
"So you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong." Steve was just as stubborn as Dustin.
"Except it wasn't faulty. Lyn, Lucas, you remember what can affect a compass?" He looks between them.
"An electronic magnetic field." He answers. The three shared a look letting Dustin know they were on the same page.
"Sorry, I must have missed that class." Robin tilts her head to the side.
"In the presence of a stronger electronic magnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So, either there is some big magnet around here or…" Dustin was waiting for them to get it.
"There's a gate," Lucas answered when they weren't getting it.
"But we aren't near the lab?" Nancy pointed out.
"Somehow there must be another gate. It's happened before. You went through a small one in a tree, right?" Lyn remembers her telling her about the deer.
"I guess, but we can't be sure." She didn't want to wander around the woods.
"When have we ever been sure about anything?" Dustin follows his compass.
"Wait, Eddie is a wanted man, we can't go hiking in the woods." Steve pointed out.
"We can't stay in a popular make-out spot either." She went to her brother's side. They walked away, knowing they would have to follow.
"God damn it, nothing is worse than when they get on the same side," Steve mutters under his breath as he follows the siblings.
"Let's go to Mordor." Eddie jumped up from his crouching position.
It was night, as Dustin led them through the woods. "Something is happening." Dustin ran ahead.
"Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?" Eddie ran after him.
"Steve, why didn't you bring a jacket?" Lyn shivers.
"I told you this morning to bring one, but you said it was hot." He was wearing a sweater so he was fine.
"I didn't know we were going to be out all day." She rubs her arms.
"I think we're getting close," Dustin yelled back.
"Watch your step, big guy." Eddie grabs the back of his jacket to stop him from falling into the lake.
"You gotta be shitting me." Steve flashes his light out onto Lover's lake.
"I thought these woods looked familiar." Eddie sighs.
"This is confusing." Dustin looks out at it.
"There's a gate in lover's lake." Max was confused.
"Whenever the Demogorgon killed it left an opening, maybe Vecna the same way," Nancy remembers.
"Now, we have a reason. He's killing to make gates." Lyn bit her cheek as she thought about people being sacrificed for this. Dustin stared at the side of her face. "What?"
"It was just the last time you were able to figure something out about him, he tried to kill you." Dustin felt like if he blinked or took his eyes off her, she would float.
"Stop it." She pushed his face away.
"Let's get to that gate." Steve walks over to the boat that the cops left covered up on land. Eddie and Steve pushed it onto the water. "Easy, easy, I said easy." Steve sneers when Eddie shoves it in the water making it splash.
"Sorry, man." Eddie squats next to Steve by the shore to hold the boat while others go on.
"Here, you go." Steve held his hand onto Robin.
"I'm just going to do that." She put a hand on the top of each of their heads to balance herself as she stepped on the boat. "Thank you"
"That works too," Steve grumbled.
Eddie stepped onto the boat while Steve held it steady. "Wheeler." He helped her on the boat. "Rosalyn." He held his hand out to his ex.
"Thanks." She grabbed it to step onto the boat.
"What are you trying to sink us into?" He pushed Dustin back when he tried to get on. "This thing holds four people tops."
"It's better this way. You two stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble." Nancy tried to reason with him.
"You keep an eye out for trouble. It's my goddamn theory." He points at his chest.
"You heard Nancy." Robin glares at the young man.
"Who put her in charge?" He pointed at Nancy.
"I did." She nods with authority.
"Compass." She held her hand out. He pouts as he gives it to her.
"Here you go." Steve throws his backpack at him. He jumped onto the boat after giving it a push to go further in the water.
"You said four?" Dustin yelled in outrage. He thought he was more useful than Robin.
"Sorry," Steve whispers.
"I missed you already." Robin stood up to wave.
"Sit down." Lyn pulled her down.
Steve and Eddie rowed. Lyn held the flashlight while Nancy watched the compass. Robin was sitting by them waiting for them to give the call. "Slow down, guys." Nancy watched it go haywire.
"What's going on?" Dustin's voice came through the walkie.
"The portal is under us," Lyn told him. Steve took off his shoes. "What are you doing?"
"Someone has to go down there to check it out." He pulled his socks off. "Unless one of you guys can top being a co-captain of the Hawkins swimming team and a certified lifeguard for three years, it's gotta be me. No complaints." He looks at Lyn.
"It just… Do you have to go alone?" She felt panic set into her chest now that they were so close.
"It'll be fine." He gave her a peck before standing up to take his shirt off. "Here, you can wear it so you're not cold." He threw his sweater at her. She put it on as she prayed he could come back.
Eddie took a plastic bag out of his pocket and wrapped the flashlight around it. "Here, Good luck." He hands it to Steve.
"Thanks." He grabbed it.
Eddie put a cigarette in his mouth. "Gross." Robin took it and threw it into the lake before he could light it.
"Steve." Lyn grabs onto his pants. He looks down at her. "Don't do anything stupid like go through it and try to kill him on your own."
"I promise that I'll just look if it's there and come back to you, okay?" He wasn't going to admit that going alone crossed his mind.
"Okay, be careful." She let go of his pants. He jumped in.
"He's going to be okay. He's Steve. Luck has always been on his side." Robin pats her bouncing knee.
The seconds felt like minutes to Lyn. "He's been down there too long."
"We're closing in on a minute," Nancy told her.
The girls stared down into the water waiting but they still jumped when he popped up with a big splash. "Jesus Christ," Eddie yelled.
"I found it." He spits some water out of his mouth.
"Great, get out of the water." Lyn reaches in to grab his arm. Steve hangs his arms on the side of the boat to keep his head above water. She didn't let go of him.
"Dustin, you're a goddamn Einstein, Steve found the gate," Robin spoke into the walkie.
"It's pretty wild. It's more of a snack-size gate than the mama gate, but it is still pretty big." He pants.
He felt something pull his leg, but his grip on the boat allowed his head to stay above the lake. "Steve!" Lyn held on to his arm to try and pull him on the boat.
"Let go, Lyn! Something is pulling me." He knew he had to let go so the boat didn't capsize.
"No!" She got pulled into the water with him. She didn't let go as the tentacle pulled them towards the gate.
Steve was trying to pull away from her while kicking the tentacle but he wasn't succeeding in either. They were pulled through the gate into an empty wasteland. Lyn was forced to let go when they slammed into the ground. She forced herself not to think about the pain as she got up to stomp on the tentacle holding her boyfriend. It recoiled and she helped Steve to his feet. They looked around at the dried-up lake that had tentacle-like roots on the ground. The dilapidated version of Rick's house was off in the distance. "Why didn't you let go?" Steve was never so upset with her as he was right now.
"What does it matter? I would have gone right in after you anyways." She rings out the drenched sweater. Their argument was put on hold when they heard a shriek in the distance. "Holy shit, they can fly." Her wide eyes took in the bat-like creatures flying at them.
"Grab a paddle and we'll stand back to back." Steve ran to grab the paddles. She put her back to him. They whacked the ones that flew at them. They were able to smack a few away before one was able to wrap its tail around Steve's neck.
"Steve?" She ran to save him when one did the same to her, dragging her away from him. "Fuck." She hissed in pain when it took her to the ground. More land on her to sink their fangs in. She wiggles around to try and shake them off. Between the loss of oxygen and the pain, her body was shutting down.