El pulls down the makeshift blindfold, fashioned from a spare shirt Argyle had laying around in the van, from her eyes. Exiting the Void she looks straight at him.
"I found Nancy. She's in trouble."
"Drive faster!" He yells at his friend who's already been way over the speed limit as they've blasted their way across the country.
Soon as Owens cronies told them that weird things were happening in Hawkins again he knew they had to find a way to get back there. One look at the photo of him and Nancy together his mom had insisted be put upon the fridge, and one look at the Surfer Boy's Pizza card he was determined and had a plan. Government agents be damned.
Getting El on the way was essential of course. They had to get his sister back and did. And found she'd now regained her powers, which strengthened their resolve. With El and her powers back they surely can save Hawkins from whatever danger had befallen the town this time?
As they neared Indiana El had gone into the Void to try and find any of their friends, so they'd know where to go since they don't know what will meet them in Hawkins. He suggested she'd search for Nancy because he knew Nancy would be in the middle of it. Fearless, brave, amazing Nancy would as always run straight at whatever danger there was.
Nancy's in trouble. His stress level was already high given the situation but now it's through the roof. He has to save her. He can't lose her. He can't live without her, the realization hits him like a ton of bricks. He feels a pang of guilt deep in his heart over his recent behavior, pulling away from her because of his confusing, messy feelings and concerns about the future. Of wanting to be with her but not feeling like he can leave his family. Not wanting to lose her but also not wanting to stand in her way.
That all goes out the window now. They have to get to her, he has to save her. Nothing else matters.
He can feel himself starting to panic as he watches Nancy in trance and no matter how hard he shakes her or how loud he yells her name to try and snap her out of it, she remains locked far away in her own mind. Eyes white, freaking him out. He can vaguely hear the others yelling at him from the other side of the portal but he can't make them out clearly.
Realizing he doesn't know what to do he climbs the rope made from bedsheets. He hates to leave Nancy there but he can't get her with him up the rope, not when she's like that. Crossing through the portal he yelps as something changes and he tumbles down onto the mattress.
"Dude what's going?!" Dustin yells at him and the others look at him wide-eyed.
"Vecna's got her! She's in a trance!"
"What?! But she didn't have any of the symptoms, did she?" Robin panicky questions, looking around at the others.
"I don't know, I don't think so?! I wasn't paying attention to that," he answers. "We have to get her out of it! Give me your Walkman!" He turns to Max who hurries to take the headphones off herself and shove the music player In his hands.
Putting the Walkman into his pocket and headphones around his neck he climbs back up the bedsheet rope and tumbles back into the Upside Down. Thankfully Nancy remains frozen to the spot he left her a moment ago, but her eyes are still white.
He gets to his feet and puts the headphones on her and presses play, praying for Running Up That Hill to pull Nancy out of it like it did Max.
Nothing happens. He turns the volume up as loud as he can, so loud he can hear the sound leaking from the headphones. But through verses after verse, chorus coming in again and again, Nancy doesn't react. The song doesn't work on her. Shit.
He pulls the headphones off her and hurries to climb the rope once again, silently thanking Mr. Tomkinson for all the rope climbing he always made them do in high school gym class.
"It's not working!" He shouts out to the others as he crashes down on the mattress again.
"Well, what's her favorite song?! It's gotta be her favorite!" Max and Lucas screams back at him.
"I don't know!"
"You don't know her favorite song?!" Robin looks at him incredulous. "But you love her?!"
"Does any of these ring a bell?!" Max exasperated calls out and pours out all the tapes she has. Frantically he looks through them.
"I don't know, I don't think so!
"Her room!" Robin calls out like she just had an epiphany. "She had like bazillion tapes on her nightstand! Her favorite song has to be on one of those."
"Take my car!" He tosses Robin the keys he always keeps on him.
"Right!" Robin nods and is immediately on her way out the door, but then she suddenly freezes. "Wait, where is your car?"
"Fuck!" He exclaims as he realizes his car's not here. Damnit. They don't have any car here, Nancy drove them all out to the woods in the station wagon. They left it there to get Eddie from Skull Rock and then ended up going through the gate in Lovers Lake.
"Take my bike!" Lucas tells Robin.
Robin nods again and runs outside.
"Hurry!" He calls after her.
"Mr. Wheeler? Hi, I'm Robin, Nancy's friend," she greets the bespectacled man who opens the door after she's rung the bell.
"Yes? Have you seen our daughter by any chance?"
"Um… no, I just came by because I forgot a sweater in her room, mind if I come in and get it?"
Mr. Wheeler only grunts in what she assumes is the affirmative, and turns around and walks back towards the kitchen.
She hurries up the stairs and into Nancy's room. Just as she remembered there's a whole pile of mixtapes on her nightstand. She throws them all into her bag. Looking around to see if there's anything more she can use she remembers something. Darting over to Nancy's closet she digs out the shoebox Nancy led them all here for in the Upside Down. Opening it she finds it indeed contains two guns. She puts those in her bag as well.
"Wait, sorry so who are you?" Mrs. Wheeler ambushes her when she comes back down the stairs. Mr. Wheeler looms behind her.
"Oh, Robin, Nancy's friend?"
"I don't think I've ever seen you over here before?"
"Right, I guess you must've been out!"
"I suppose… you've only been here once?"
"Yes, but we're very good friends."
"She hasn't mentioned you?"
"Oh, she hasn't? Well you know Nancy," she smiles and shrugs, trying to get out of the conversation. "Anyway, I should get going, it's getting late, my parents are expecting me," she excuses herself and starts moving towards the front door.
"Wait, do you know where Nancy is? We need her home."
"Oh um… I think she's at Vickie's," she makes up on the spot, blurting out the first name she can think of.
"Who's Vickie?"
"Oh did I say Vickie? I meant um…" she tries to think, who is Nancy friends with? But she realizes she doesn't really know her that well. "… Allie?" She tries, throwing out a name of a girl who's in all the honors classes and whatnot Nancy undoubtedly must be a part of as well.
"Oh. Well I'll try calling her house then. You go on home now, I'm sure your parents are worried, it's not safe out there now."
"I will. Bye Mrs. Wheeler nice to meet you!"
Waiting for Robin to return feels like an eternity. He's stressed out knowing Nancy's stuck in the trance in the Upside Down and feeling he has no way of saving her. His stress is not helped by the others.
"How can you not know her favorite song? Thought you loved her dude," Eddie shakes his head.
"Hey shut up you don't even know her," he throws back at Eddie
"Do you?" Lucas wonders.
"Hey!" He tries to defend himself but can't come up with more than that.
"Hey it's okay guys, Steve's had a lot on his mind," Dustin in his own way tries to step in on his behalf. "He can be forgiven for not knowing what the girl he's pining for likes to listen to, even though it would really be very helpful right now."
He just rolls his eyes at Dustin.
"Y'all need to stop this love bullshit," Erica interjects.
"Yeah, especially since she's with Jonathan," Max notes.
He wishes they'd all just shut up. Especially about him and Nancy. They don't know shit.
As they enter Hawkins El, and Will, who keep touching the back of his neck and looking pensive, directs Argyle to drive towards the trailer park on the outskirts of town, near the woods.
"This is where Eddie lives. And Max," Mike informs them as they near the trailer park.
Thankfully Robin soon returns, bursting through the door.
"Hey I grabbed all the tapes I could find in her room. Also grabbed these," she hurriedly explains and takes two guns out of her bag. One of which he recognizes from Nancy aiming it at him a couple of years ago, telling him to get out for his own safety.
After removing the guns Robin just empties bag out on the floor and dozens of mixtapes fall out. All seven of them fall to their knees frantically looking through them. They all have handwritten labels on the front and track lists on the back. It's not Nancy's neat, flowery handwriting. It's still nice penmanship, but distinctly different from Nancy's. Chemistry Vol. 1 one is labeled. Home By Eight he reads off another. From Cali With Love Vol. 4 is the next one he grabs.
"I think these are all from Jonathan," Lucas states the obvious.
"No shit, Sherlock," Erica snarks her brother.
"Who cares who made them for her, what's her favorite song?" Max wonders, intently reading track lists.
"I don't know!" He panics.
"Think dude! You dated her for a year!" Robin demands.
His mind is cast back to a night now several years ago with Nancy, when he turned their study session into a makeout session. It had been a nice night he thought, even though Nancy told him to stop and shoved him away when he tried to take it further.
"Africa! By Toto! Maybe that one?" He calls out.
"There's no Toto on any of these man!" Eddie exclaims as they all frantically reads through the back of every single tape.
"What else dude, come on?!" Dustin prods.
"I don't know!" He panics.
"There's Lucas' and Dustin's bikes! That's where Eddie lives," Mike points to a trailer further down the desolate road.
"Something's there," Will says, touching his neck, worry etched across his face.
He wants to ask his brother how he knows but that will have to wait. Because El nods and mumbles something about "Bad place".
"Go, man, go!" He shouts at Argyle.
"I am, dude! I get it! Andale, andale!" His stressed out friend replies and floors the gas even more than he already has been doing the whole way here.
He's out of the van before it's even at a full stop. If there's bad things happening in Hawkins again and this is the place, and Nancy is in trouble, she surely must be here. He can hear the others follow some steps behind him as the runs up to the trailer and throws the door open and rush in without knocking.
Inside seven faces looks up at him in shock at his sudden entrance. Steve, Robin, Dustin, Max, Lucas, Erica, and Eddie who he vaguely recalls from his old high school. But no Nancy.
"Jonathan?!" Steve looks shocked to see him.
"Where's Nancy?!" He calls out the question he desperately needs an answer too.
"Um-" Steve hesitates but is interrupted by Will, El, Mike and Argyle rushing in after him.
"El!"
"Mike!"
"Will!"
Max, Lucas and Dustin calls out the names of their friends all at once.
"Where's Nancy?!" He repeats.
"What's her favorite song?!" Robin shouts at him.
"She's in a trance in the Upside Down and the only way to bring her out of it is with music what's her favorite song?!" Dustin motormouths an explanation he barely understands while Eddie points at the ceiling where he sees… matter, or what you call it, that looks like what he saw on the tree portal he pulled Nancy out of three years ago.
He registers that, the bedsheets tied together that's hanging down from the portal, and the Walkman and all the mixtapes the group is kneeling around. He doesn't understand it really but he understands enough. Nancy, trance, Upside Down. He has to save her.
"Time After Time," he answers automatically and flings himself to his knees with the group.
The tapes he instantly recognizes as some of all the ones he's made for Nancy since they started dating. They would always spend a lot of time listening to music. He first made a mixtape for her a week into dating, just filled with songs that made him think of her. She liked it and asked him for more, so he obliged. Mostly he put stuff on them he knew she hadn't heard but thought she might like. They always good-naturedly bickered about music, she'd rib him about his punk tastes, he'd rib her about her pop tastes. They'd found some overlap though in stuff like Blondie. And he'd gotten her really into stuff like Bowie and New Order at least.
Cyndi Lauper he could never really get into, but Nancy loves her. She'd always play Time After Time when they were hanging out in her room. At first when she told him she thought the song was about them he didn't get it. Then Nancy, in her typical determined way, made him listen closer to the lyrics. Then he got it. After that he started putting it on some of the tapes he made for her. The most personal ones, the ones he really wanted to say something with, convey to her how he felt about her, them. Those always ended up being the ones Nancy liked the most.
He immediately spots the tape he had simply labeled Us. It's on there. He made it for her just a few weeks into dating, when the anniversary of that week in November that irrevocably changed their lives forever was coming up. The anniversary of Will going missing, of Barb dying, of Nancy crawling into the Upside Down. He'd made the tape to tell her that he'd always be there for her, like he'd been when he'd pulled her from the tree portal that time.
Without a second thought he grabs the Walkman from Steve, shoves the tape in it and immediately jumps up and climbs the rope. He can hear the others call after him but his sole focus is Nancy, he has to save Nancy.
When he passes through the portal gravity suddenly shifts and instead of climbing upwards he falls to the ground. For the first time he sees the Upside Down with his own eyes. It's just as Nancy described it to him, dark, decaying, vines and particles in the air.
He lands heavily on the ground right in front of a pair of well familiar boots. He hurries to his feet and takes in a sight that truly terrifies him to the core. Nancy is standing in front of him, trembling and shaking slightly and her eyes completely white. She's right in front of her but seems far away. He puts the headphones on her and presses play.
Just as suddenly as the Creel house appeared around her it disappears again and she's back in the horror of Steve's pool, overgrown with vines. The sight of Barb's corpse makes her gasp again. Engulfed in vines, eye sockets hollow. She wants to turn away from the horrible, nightmarish sight but can't. All her guilt and dread creeps up again. She dragged Barb to the party. She talked her into trying to shotgun the beer which made Barb accidentally cut her thumb. She left Barb alone to go with Steve. It's her fault she's dead. That she died like this, in the worst possible way anyone can die.
"How could you do that to her?" The deep voice taunting, questioning her, is back.
"She cried your name. Begged you to help her. But you weren't there for her."
The words strikes a deep chord with her. Barb died like this. Barb died like this and was crying her name. How can she ever move on from that?
Suddenly some familiar tones catches her attention.
Lying in my bed, I hear the clock tick and think of you
Caught up in circles
Confusion is nothing new
It's coming from above her and to the right. She looks up to the edge of the pool. Jonathan is there. Jonathan is there, surrounded by a light that pierces through the red mist and dark world. He's calling her name.
Flashback, warm nights
Almost left behind
Suitcase of memories
Time after
She runs towards him. She's reminded of the first time she was in the Upside Down. When she couldn't find her way out and thought for sure she was going to die. Until she heard his voice.
Sometimes you picture me
I'm walking too far ahead
You're calling to me, I can't hear
What you've said
Then you say, "go slow"
And I fall behind
The second hand unwinds
She'd followed it then and it led her out, back to their world. Into the safety of his arms. She follows the music now, music that reminds her of him.
If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time
She runs and runs and doesn't look back. She reaches the pool ladder and climbs and climbs.
If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I will be waiting
Time after time
Everything starts to shake. She loses her grip of the ladder and crashes back down to the bottom of the pool.
After my picture fades and darkness has
Turned to gray
Watching through windows
You're wondering if I'm okay
Secrets stolen from deep inside
And the drum beats out of time
The ground rumbles beneath her and she can sense something is lurking behind her. But she can still hear the music and see Jonathan above her. She gets back to her feet and grips the ladder again.
If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time
Everything's still shaking but she's ready for it now, gripping the bars of the ladder tighter. She looks down and sees that a red liquid now fills the bottom of the pool and is rapidly rising. Undaunted, she climbs upwards, focusing on the music that grows louder, on Jonathan who feels so close now. She can hear him call her name.
If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I will be waiting
Time after time
Time after time
The liquid is right under her heels now. The shaking intensifies. Determined, she just climbs faster. She's almost at the top now. She can hear him so clearly now.
I've got a suitcase of memories that I almost left behind
Time after time
Time, time, time
But you say to go slow but I fall behind
Time after time after time
She's out of the pool. He's there, holding his arms out to her and calling her name. She goes to him.
For what feels like an eternity nothing seems to happen after he puts the headphones on Nancy and blares Time After Time. He holds her by the shoulders and calls her name too but to no reaction. At first. Then, suddenly it all happens at once. Her eyes roll back into place, she takes a huge, sharp intake of breath and her knees buckle as she returns to the present, to him. He catches her in his arms and holds her as close as he can. She clings to him as it's life or death once again for them.
"I've got you, I've got you, I've got you," he murmurs in her ear. The headphones have halfway come off in the midst of it all so he's pretty sure she hears him over the music still playing.
"J-jonathan?" She croaks out in a small voice, like she wants to confirm it's really him.
"I'm here. I've got you, I've got you," he repeats and she burrows deeper into his embrace.
Glancing up he sees everyone else looking down at them from the other side of the portal. He looks around and takes in the fact that they're still in an evil dimension.
"We should get out of here," he tells her.
She nods and lets go of him just a bit, enough so she can peer up at him. Her big beautiful blue eyes are rimmed with tears. She looks deep into his eyes, like she's staring right into his soul. He places a reassuring arm around her shoulders. She nods again. He gently leads her to the bedsheet rope.
"You first," he insists. "I'll be right behind you," he assures her when she looks at him again.
She reaches her left hand out towards him and he takes it in his, lining up their scars. He gives her a small smile to reassure her. She lets go of his hand to grab the rope and starts to climb. He supports her with secure hands on her hips and legs until she's out of reach. She looks down at him and he mouths "I'm right behind you" to her.
The sensation of falling gives her déjà vu. The sense of relief when she lands softly on the mattress back in their world is immense. Everyone crowds around her and talks over one another. There's so many people there suddenly. Including her little brother. Mike is the one to help her to her feet and he looks at her with shock and worry etched on his face. She hugs him tight.
She lets go of Mike and notices the tapes on the ground, instantly recognizable to her. Then she stares up at the portal, counting every second as she waits for the person who made them. She's vaguely aware of Steve talking to her and Robin looking at her but she can't focus on them right now. Rationally she knows it's probably takes less than half a minute but it feels like a lifetime passes while she stares up at the portal, waiting for Jonathan to come through, before he finally does, crashing to the mattress.
Jonathan's up so quick he barely even hits the ground. In an instant he's standing in front of her and pulling her into his safe arms again. Being wrapped up in his embrace, back in their own dimension, calms her. She's able to process what just happened, what she's seen, what she experienced. One thing she doesn't understand though.
"How are you here?"
"Heard you could be in danger. Had to come. I'm sorry it took so long, agents came. Told us we couldn't contact you or go here. El was taken. We had to get away from them and get El first."
His bravery never ceases to amaze her.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
They pull apart a little and share a look, a look they both know means they'll always be there for one another. She tucks herself into his side and he keeps his arm around her as they look around. Now she finally takes in just how much larger the group has gotten since she went into the Upside Down. Steve looks at her in an odd, forlorn way. Robin and Eddie look at her kind of awkwardly and she suddenly remembers that Robin has tried to weirdly push her towards Steve the whole day. It hits her how, though she's certainly grown on her over these last few days, Robin doesn't really know her at all.
She nestles deeper into Jonathan's side as her gaze wanders over the others. Dustin, Erica, Lucas, Max, Mike, El who's hair once again is short, Will and some guy she doesn't recognize but looks to be about her own age. He's got very long hair and looks from her and Jonathan to the portal in the ceiling quizzically.
"This is trippy as hell dude," the longhaired guy mumbles, his eyes lingering on the portal.
"Okay, who is this now?" Erica asks the question she's also curious for the answer too.
"Uh, this is my friend Argyle. He drove us here," Jonathan explains.
"You drove all the way from California?" Robin looks at Jonathan incredulous.
"We had to get here some way," Jonathan shrugs and squeezes her shoulder.
"So what the hell is going on here?!" Her brother breaks in with a valid question.
"Vecna's cursed us dude. Prays on and kills people with trauma. Chrissy Cunningham died right here, and people think Eddie did it but it was Vecna, hence…" Dustin hurriedly explains and point to the portal.
The newcomers look solemn as they take it in. Jonathan holds her closer.
"So what the hell happened to you guys?" Lucas asks.
"A lot of bullshit," Mike replies. "But also… El's got her powers back."
They all look at the girl who for the first time opens her mouth.
"I know who Vecna is."
She looks straight at the girl.
"I know his secrets."
