Alex makes it to the shore on the other side of Lover's Lake. In her panic, she'd lost sight of Eddie. She pulls herself to her feet, sopping wet and freezing in the nighttime breeze. She glances around, finding nothing but dark shadows. Yelling sounds from the other side of the lake. Alex isn't sure who it is, but it's enough to send her rushing into the woods. She runs for a few minutes, unaware of everything except for her heavy breathing and the dark trees rushing past her.
Suddenly, she hears footsteps that aren't her own. She flings herself behind a tree and peeks around it. It's dark, but she sees the irrefutable figure of Eddie rush past her. He jogs into a clearing just ahead, muttering a string of curses.
Alex moves toward him, quietly calling his name, but he's not able to hear her. Her foot lands on a twig, snapping it just before she reaches him. He flings around, a broken beer bottle in his hands pointing straight at Alex.
She almost runs right into it, skidding to a halt with the jagged glass almost at her throat. He drops the glass immediately when he sees her, nearly falling as he envelops her. "Shit, Alex!" He says, way too loud.
"Shh…" she says, completely out of breath. "I don't know if they'll come after us or not."
"Why didn't you leave?" He asks, the two of them finally pulling away.
She wraps her own arms around herself tightly to replace the feeling of his. "Andy almost caught me, then…that happened and I knew I couldn't leave you."
They both take a moment to catch their breath. He spends his time hunched over; she spends her time glancing around the dim woods at every little noise. She realizes that what she just witnessed could have happened to Max, and the thought makes her sick.
"What do we do?" He finally says, standing upright with his hands on his hips.
She thinks as hard as she can. This scenario is life or death for Eddie–and now potentially for her as well. She finally thinks of an idea. "Fox Tail Road. That's right by Lover's Lake, right?"
"Never heard of it," he answers.
She turns around in the dark, trying to orient herself. "I think it's this way." Unsure of herself without the buzz of alcohol, she gingerly reaches for his hand. He takes it immediately, providing a bit of comfort.
She pulls him away and they start trodding through the woods. He lets her lead him for nearly ten minutes before he speaks up. "Uh, Alex, you planning on sharing where we're going?"
"I have an idea, but don't want to get my hopes up too much."
They wander for another half an hour, undoubtedly getting lost several times. Eddie doesn't get mad or frustrated at her even once, which Alex is thankful for because she spends the whole time frustrated at herself. She's ready to give up, when they finally stumble upon a house in a clearing.
Even through the lowlight, Alex recognizes the house immediately. She drops Eddie's hand and runs to the front porch, her wet socks sloshing in her shoes with every step. Eddie runs after her, whisper-yelling her name.
She hastily starts looking under the welcome mat and the wooden porch swing. As she stands to look through the flower bed, Eddie catches up to her and grabs her hands. He speaks and holds her hands steady. "Alex, what are you doing? We can't just break into this random house."
"It's not a random house. Help me find the key!"
He shrugs. "That makes it okay, I guess."
They hunt through the flower bed until Alex finds a fake rock with a key underneath. She grasps the key with such intensity, thanking the universe for letting her only hope work out. The key slips into the lock and the door creaks open. Eddie stands in the open doorway beside Alex, who peers inside the dark house in awe. They come to their senses and rush inside, slamming the door and leaning against it. They lean against the door with their heads close together.
"Didn't take you for the breaking and entering type," he mutters.
She glances back at him, only able to see the silhouette of his face in the moonlight that streams through the window. "I know the lady who owns this house–well knew. I'd like to think she would want to help me out, so it's not really breaking and entering. It's basically like what you did with Rick's house."
"So whose house are we in right now?"
Alex flips on a light switch and sighs in content when the living room is flooded with light. "Her name was Mabel. She worked with my mom at Melvard's for a long time. She was really sweet. She used to host get-togethers here during the summer when I was younger. She passed away, and her daughter never had the heart to sell this place."
Alex looks around the open-concept home. It had been three years since Alex had been here and two years since Mabel had passed away, yet the house was still the same as Alex remembered it. Not a single knick-knack or decorative pillow was out of place.
"You sure no one is going to stumble upon us here?" Eddie asks, putting his palm down on the wooden kitchen table. He notices the puddle that forms on the table around his hand and quickly swipes the liquid onto the floor below.
"Someone comes by occasionally to clean, I'm guessing," she says, running a finger over the dust-less coffee table. "But no one will come by this late, especially with everything going on." She leaves the last statement as is, knowing that now is not the time to mention the details of their current situation.
"So… what's next?" Eddie asks with a sigh. "Sorry for making you come up with all the plans."
"No, no, it's fine," she mutters.
Her head still spinning from the events at the lake, she gestures for Eddie to follow her down the hall. They walk side by side, dripping water along the hardwood floors as they walk. They enter the first bedroom, which Alex remembers to be Mabel's. She stands before the closet, and pulls the door open, her face dropping as she does so. The closet is devoid of all clothes.
"Are you disappointed that you can't wear a dead old lady's clothes?" Eddie asks.
"We need to get out of these wet clothes and let them dry or we'll freeze. They must've donated all her clothes," Alex says with a sigh. "I guess these are our pajamas for tonight."
Alex grabs two identical pink fluffy robes that were neatly folded and tucked in the corner of the closet. She isn't sure why Mabel owned two identical robes, but she's glad to at least have something to change into. "Is this weird?" She asks, gesturing to the robe in her own hands and the one she handed to Eddie.
"Not weirder than anything else that's happened to me this week."
She smiles an appreciative smile. "You can change and drop your clothes off in the washer. Then you can shower in the bathroom down the hall. Since the lights work, I'm guessing the water does too."
He nods, and heads toward the hall. He stops and turns at the last second. "Did you want me to sleep in the bedroom next door?"
"I mean, you could sleep in here… with me. If that's okay with you."
"Yeah, whatever you want," he says. He motions the folded robe in his hands toward the direction of the bathroom. "I'm just gonna'..."
She nods and watches him go, his hair still dripping. She turns her attention toward her own sopping wet appearance. Shivering, she peels the soaked clothes off of her body. Her newly robed body aches from all of the tension from the past few days.
She pads into the rest of the house to deposit her pile of wet clothes into the washer. She finds Eddie's clothes already inside, so she starts the wash cycle with some laundry detergent that she found and definitely did not carefully measure.
She heads through the main bedroom and into the bathroom. Leaving the bathrobe on the counter, she steps into the steaming shower. It takes only minutes for her to wash her hair and body, but she sits in the hot stream of water until her fingers prune. Too numb to cry, she lets the water wash over her like it will take the pain away–both mental and physical. It, of course, does not work. But she eventually decides it's time for her to exit the shower. She pats herself dry quickly and wraps the robe around her frame. Stepping into the bedroom, she expects to find a worried Eddie, but instead she is met with an empty room and the distant sound of the shower down the hall.
Alex relaxes a little, knowing that this is Eddie's first time dealing with issues relating to the Upside Down. She figures he just needs some time to himself. She props her legs up on the bed and tries to make herself comfortable, but so much time passes that she begins to worry. A brief rain shower outside has drowned out the noise of the shower, so Alex isn't sure if he's even in the shower still. But it's been so incredibly long, and Alex believes she needs to go check up on him.
She gets to her feet and makes it around the foot of the bed when the door flies open. Eddie stands in the doorway, hair still damp. The look on his face is unreadable.
"Eddie," Alex breathes out. She's caught off guard by the sight of him, so she stays planted to the floor, waiting for his next move.
In an instant, Eddie closes the distance between them. He pauses for the slightest of moments before one hand finds itself cupping Alex's cheek while the other grips her waist. They peer at each other, two sets of brown eyes melting together. Her breath hitches in her throat. Alex has never been touched like this before, and now that she's felt it, she never wants it to end.
Eddie leans down and Alex stands on her tiptoes to meet him halfway. Their lips meet and enter a shamelessly needy kiss. Alex is certain her heart is going to beat out of her chest, but she doesn't care. She needs this kiss, and she's needed it for a long time.
Despite the circumstances, Alex can only think to describe this moment as perfect–from the feeling of his lips on hers to his hand gripping her waist. Alex lets her hands find his chest. She almost laughs when she feels the fluffy fabric and remembers that the two of them are standing there in a grandma's pink bathrobes, but she doesn't want to ruin the moment. She moves the fabric slightly so that she can run her hands along his bare chest. His skin is cool to the touch and he still wears his guitar pick necklace.
The kiss escalates until Eddie is walking her backward. Alex's back softly meets the wall, and Eddie pulls away. She takes in his appearance: hair the slightest bit messy, lips swollen, eyes lidded. It's one of the prettiest sights she's ever seen and it's all because of her. It's a feeling foreign to her, but damn does it feel good.
"Is this okay? Is this what you want?"
"Of course."
He pulls her into another passionate kiss, but pulls away just a second later. His eyebrows furrowed, he asks, "How do you feel about… this?" He gingerly places his hand at her throat.
"Love it," she murmurs, eager to get back to business.
"Are you sure, because-" He starts to remove his hand, but she places her own hand over his to reassure him.
"Yes, Eddie," she says, smiling at how amazing he is.
Their lips reconnect, and one thing leads to the next, until those pink, fluffy, grandma robes are nothing but discarded heaps on the floor.
Fourteen year old Alex sits on the floor of her brother's bedroom, her back against his bed and her knees drawn to her chest. She keeps her gaze steady on the wall in front of her as the yelling from down the hall grows louder.
"How about I just turn the stereo back on," Jonathan offers.
"No," she says immediately. "I need to hear it. It's about me, afterall."
"Jesus Christ, Joyce! You're letting that girl walk around and do whatever she wants and it's making the other kids not like her. Hell, even some of the guys at work are sayin' shit about her!" Her father yells, his voice rumbling the whole house.
"Then stand up for her, Lonnie!" Her mother shouts back.
"But, see, that's the thing, Joyce. You let this 'be yourself' bullshit go on for too long and now she thinks that it's okay for her to be like this."
"There is not a single thing wrong with her," her mother bites back. Alex can't see her, but she knows her mom is absolutely seething. Alex is glad that Will is staying at his friend Mike's house, so that he doesn't have to hear this.
"She dresses weird. She runs around with a boy's name. She listens to that devil music and reads those weird fantasy books. I heard her showing that stuff to Will. I won't let her ruin my son with that thinking!" Her mom tries to get a word in, but her dad keeps going. "And now she's starting to play the electric guitar?!"
"She wanted to play an instrument, Lonnie," he mom says, her tone frustrated, as if she just wants to be done with the conversation. It's late, and her mom had just gotten home from a long shift at Melvard's.
"So?! She's a girl! Let her play the damn flute! We don't have the money to send them all to college, Joyce. I say she should be learning to cook and clean so as soon as she gets out of high school she can find a husband. She shouldn't be wasting time playing guitar and writing dumb stories."
"I should really turn the stereo back on," Jonathan mumbles. He tries to turn the knob, but it doesn't budge. He tries several more times before settling back down on the floor next to his sister. "Piece of crap is busted. I'll have to take it in."
"She's a genius and so incredibly talented; I'm sure she'll have no problem getting a scholarship. I won't let her end up with some asshole just for the sake of money," her mom retorts. "She won a national story writing contest, Lonnie. A national contest! She is your daughter! Could you at least be proud of her?"
"She is not my daughter! She never was!"
Every word is uttered by her father with such venom that she feels it in her bones. She will never forget how she felt in that moment, finally hearing what she has known to be true for as long as she can remember.
"What he says doesn't matter. Will and I are your brothers. Mom is your mom. We don't need him," Jonathan says, trying to pull her stiff body in for a hug. He notices a red puddle forming in her lap. "Oh, shit, you have a nose bleed. I'll go get Mom."
Of course now her body decides to have a stupid nose bleed. It had been a long time since she had one, but she has a feeling that this one will be just as severe as the others.
"No," she says, grabbing Jonathan's arm to stop him before he can get up. She imagines she looks pitiful right now: blood streaming down her face, skin pale, eyes screaming to let out tears that she won't let fall.
"Are you sure? The last one took forever to stop." He begrudgingly obliges when she nods and finds a towel for her to press against the steady stream of blood.
The silence from the kitchen is louder than any of the previous fighting. Finally, her mom breaks the silence.
"Divorce. I want a divorce."
Alex feels like she's suffocating. After all the years of fighting, her parents were finally getting divorced and it was all her fault. Will is going to be devastated. Their financial troubles will triple in size. Her mom's long hours at Melvard's will double in both length and stress. All of these horrible things, and all because of her.
"Good!" Her father screams. His scream is followed by some loud bangs, and Alex knows exactly what it is. She had left her guitar on its stand in the living room. She had just learned a new chord and wanted to show her mom and brothers. She forgot to put it away afterward and now it was destroyed. It was a piece of junk, but it was all she could afford with the money she had saved up from babysitting Erica Sinclair.
Her brain is firing signals rapidly. She needs to mourn having a father. She needs to mourn her parents' marriage. She needs to mourn her guitar, which was one of the only things recently that brought her joy after the relentless bullying she faced at school.
The heavy footsteps of her father reverberate through the house as he slams the door shut. He had stormed out many times throughout the years after fights, sometimes staying gone for weeks at a time, but now she knew he was never coming back. Moments after, she hears the door open again, but softly this time. She imagines it's her mom going outside for a smoke, which means the coast is clear for her to retreat to her room.
"Alex, it's okay-" Jonathan starts to stammer. When Jonathan doesn't know what to say to comfort her, she knows it's bad.
"Goodnight, Jonathan," she says, hastily getting to her feet and rushing to the hallway.
She makes the mistake of glancing toward the living room. Her suspicions are confirmed; her guitar lies in pieces on the floor. There would be no fixing it. She rushes to her room, little droplets of blood dripping onto the floor below. Alex locks the door behind her and collapses on the floor besides her bed. Feeling faint from the blood loss and the sheer emotional anguish that she currently feels, she lies on the floor until she hears her mom come back inside. Footsteps pad down the hall and stop at her door. The doorknob jiggles but does not open. The footsteps retreat and move to Jonathan's room. Alex grabs her headphones and floods her eardrums with the oddly comforting sound of metal so that she can't hear their conversation. She leaves her bloody nose to stop on its own as she drifts to sleep with silent tears leaking from her eyes and the sounds of guitar riffs in her ears.
Alex jolts awake once she reenters reality. Yet another nightmare had infiltrated her mind, but this one was entirely from her own memory, which makes it infinitely more terrifying for her. The morning after her parents decided to divorce, Jonathan and her rode their bikes to pick up Will. On the ride over, they had decided that Alex should be the one to break the news to Will. He was so happy and giddy when they picked him up. But Will was a smart kid, and he realized quickly that something was wrong. They stopped at the park and sat atop a picnic table. When it came time to tell him, Alex had not even been able to do it. Jonathan had to be the one to do it. Alex did, however, hold Will as he cried. She had to bite the inside of her cheeks until she tasted blood to keep herself from crying. Afterward, the three of them traveled to the woods behind their house and built Castle Byers. Alex kept a brave face for Will, but that day had been one of her hardest ever. She always knew that biologically her brothers were her cousins and her mom was her aunt, but she never felt that way. They were her brothers and mom no matter what. But she had known from a very young age that she had no father.
She tries to shake the memories away and instead focuses on the previous night. Eddie is still sleeping like a rock, cradling her from behind. Outside these walls, there is a town that wants to hunt him down, but in this bed, they have created a fortress. They stayed up into the late hours of the night talking about everything but their new relationship. Alex was certain about her feelings toward him, and their intimacy had only strengthened said feelings. She had assumed by Eddie's actions that he had feelings for her too, but she didn't dare ask the dreaded what are we? Instead, she focused on the way Eddie held her tight and played with his own hair when he was nearing sleep. It almost made her forget about everything else.
Alex finds her throat dry and begrudgingly leaves the comforts of the bed and Eddie's embrace. She waddles down the hall and to the dryer. She decides when she reaches it that she isn't quite ready to put on her entire outfit. Instead, she settles on throwing on Eddie's Hellfire shirt. It's so long on her that she could qualify it as a dress.
She moves to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. With a struggle, she hops onto the counter. She sips at her glass of water and admires the beautiful sunrise. She can't help but smile and swing her legs back and forth like a giddy five-year-old.
The sky changes from a watercolor painting of pinks and purples to its usual blue. Just as Alex is thinking it might be time to wake Eddie from his slumber, he comes down the hallway rubbing the sleep from his eyes and wearing nothing but his boxers.
"Thought you'd run off on me," he repeats his joke from the first time they hung out.
"Wouldn't dream of it," she says.
He stands in between her legs and places his hands on her bare thighs. They stand there for a moment, completely still and admiring each other. One of Alex's favorite things about Eddie is his hardcore style, but she also adores how soft he looks first thing in the morning. It's something she hopes to be able to observe many more mornings to come.
"What's that smile for, baby?"
"Turns out Eddie Munson can be a total softie, and let me just say I totally knew it." She smirks.
"Used to think about me a lot, did you?"
"Wouldn't you like to know, Munson."
He takes to massaging the top of her thighs. "Why'd you get up so early?"
"Nightmare," she mumbles, not particularly eager to go into details.
"Again? What was it about?"
"The weirdest part is that it was a real memory, down to the details. It was the fight where my parents finally decided to get a divorce, and it was all my fault of course."
"How so?" Eddie asks, genuineness strong in his eyes. Alex had told him a lot about her family during the night, including her asshole father, but she had left certain details out. She figures she better tell him now; that's usually what people in relationships do, right?
"They were arguing about me, which was typical. Dad didn't like the way I dressed, the music I listened to, or the hobbies I had. He finally yelled that I 'wasn't his daughter.' Mom decided that was the last straw. I guess I always knew how Dad felt–that I wasn't actually his kid. But it still hurt hearing it out loud."
"Sounds like we both have assholes for fathers." He says nonchalantly, taking a drink from her cup. "Mine's been in and out of jail so many times I lost count. But the one thing he made clear from a young age was that he wanted nothing to do with me. My mom passed away, too. I was young when it happened, but not young enough to not remember it. Shit hurt, not having parents from a young age. But I've always had Wayne. Damn, I bet he's so disappointed."
"He's been with you your whole life. I'm sure he wouldn't believe for a second that you were a killer. I know I didn't." She pushes a strand of hair away from his face gingerly. "But thank you for sharing that with me." He had shared a lot with her overnight, but this was his first time mentioning the absence of his parents. She has a feeling that Eddie hasn't shared this information with many, or possibly anyone.
"So what's this scar from?" He changes the subject.
"Oh, I fell off my bike when I was eleven," she says, turning her arm over to expose the miniscule white scar on the side of her wrist.
He smiles, then uses one of his ring clad fingers to delicately trace the six inch scar running across her thigh. "I meant this one."
"Oh, that one." She smiles, though it was not a fond memory. "Demodogs."
"Demodogs?" He asks, eyebrows quirked.
"It's like a Demogorgon, but smaller and they walk on all fours. A whole group of them attacked the kids so Steve and I had to protect them, you know? One of them got me pretty good. Left a badass scar though."
"Ouch, that must've hurt."
"Yeah. Lotta' blood too, especially since I have hemophilia."
Eddie's eyes grow wide. "Shit, you have hemophilia? I feel like that's something I should've known about."
She laughs. "It's not a severe case. I won't bleed out from a paper cut or anything. It just causes me to bleed a lot more. I used to get these really bad nose bleeds when I was younger that seemed to take forever to stop; I haven't had one for a long time, though. It's really only a concern when I have some kind of accident, like say if a creature from another dimension attacks me."
"Or if your idiot boyfriend accidentally stabbed you with broken glass like what almost happened last night?"
Boyfriend. She likes the sound of that. "You're not an idiot, and I dodged it."
She's tracing the spider tattoo on his chest when he says something that catches her off guard. "So do you still want to be an author?"
"How do you know that?"
"The first day of your freshman year, when the principal made all the incoming freshmen say what they wanted to be when they were older in front of the entire cafeteria…" He says, trying to ring a bell.
She flings her hands upward to cover her face in embarrassment. She remembers, of course she does. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. Most people don't know what they want to do when they're older at the beginning of high school, but everyone made up some answers–nurse, cop, businessman, the like. But Alex, who had already been branded a freak, decided to make it harder on herself and answer truthfully. When she got up to the microphone and uttered that she wanted to be an author for fantasy and horror novels, the entire room erupted in laughter.
Eddie tugs her hands away from her face, and he smiles at her. If there was one person who could understand her, it would be him. "I would love to be an author," she answers. "But it's just not realistic. Instead, I want to own a music store."
"Instruments or records?"
"Both." She smiles. "If I stayed in Hawkins, I figure that Mr. Vincent from the music store in town will want to retire eventually, so I could take over. Or if I lived somewhere else I could always open one. Everyone loves music, right?"
"I figured someone as smart as you would want to be a doctor or a lawyer."
Her smile turns sad. "Eddie, even if I wanted to do something like that, people wouldn't want someone like me doing those things. First, I'm a girl, and secondly, I'm a freak."
Eddie rolls his eyes dramatically. "Their loss."
"But I don't want to do something like that anyway. Too boring. I figure I probably will go to college, but I don't know where." And now I don't know if I will at all, considering current events, she wants to say.
"Thought this'd be the year I finally graduate, but now I'm wanted for murder, so…" He awkwardly scratches the back of his neck. "And sorry for dragging you into this."
She cuts him off with a kiss, happy to finally feel comfortable enough to do it. Then she makes him look at her when he tries to keep his eyes trained on the floor. "Hey, we'll get through this–together."
He steps forward and pulls Alex's body flush against his. "This feels nice," he says after several minutes of a calm embrace. "I'm glad we were able to have this time before we have to go back out there and I get arrested or hunted down and killed."
She pulls away from him with a frown on her face. "Eddie, you won't get arrested or killed. I won't let that happen. But I have no idea what to do right now, since our walkie-talkie is busted."
They glance at the waterlogged device setting atop the kitchen island. Eddie holds his finger up, a smirk on his face. "I have the plan this time. You hear that?"
Alex leans toward the window and concentrates to listen closely. In the distance, she hears the sounds of some type of heavy machinery. "Construction?"
He points at her. "Bingo. They gotta' have walkies, right? We can steal one and use it to radio the others."
She beams. "You're a genius, Eddie Munson."
They hurry to tidy the areas they disturbed and clothe themselves. Alex locks the door once they exit, resealing the house and all its memories and secrets. They move through the woods, looking over their shoulders as they walk. Once they locate the construction site, Eddie offers to steal the walkie-talkie. He does so with a certain finesse, causing not a single head to turn.
"So now we call them?" Alex asks once he returns.
"Nah… We gotta' go to a location they can find. And it's not great to be out here in the open." He stops to think for a moment, one hand on his hips and the other pinching the bridge of his nose. "Skull Rock, would they know it?"
Alex grimaces. "Yeah, Steve does."
With a nod of his head in the direction of Skull Rock, they set off. For a while all they hear is the crunching of leaves beneath their feet, until Eddie speaks up. "So you, uh… been to Skull Rock with Harrington a lot?"
If they were in a different situation, she would've laughed. "No, never. I've just heard his many stories."
When they make it to Skull Rock without a hitch, they crouch underneath the formation. Eddie fiddles with the device to get it to the right channel. Alex watches in anticipation. He gives her a look of silent communication that he's ready, and then he brings the walkie-talkie toward his mouth. "Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler? Anybody?"
The walkie-talkie crackles to life and Dustin's voice comes through. "Eddie, holy shit! Are you okay? Is Alex with you?"
Alex and Eddie look at each other with pure relief in their eyes. Eddie responds, "Yeah, Alex is with me. We're both still alive is how I'd put it."
"Where the hell are you?"
"Skull Rock. Alex says Harrington'll know it?"
There's something muffled from the other side, then Dustin assures them to hang tight. Eddie pulls Alex into his side and they both sigh in relief. After a few moments of silence, Eddie leans toward her and whispers, "I almost forgot I can do this now," and then he kisses her.
They capture each other in a kiss that deepens until Alex finds her back against the leaf-littered floor beneath Skull Rock. Each time they have kissed it's been filled with fervor and a certain neediness, like any time could be their last. Alex hates to admit it, but she knows that something could happen to either of them at any time with Hawkins being attacked by Vecna.
Alex wonders if they should stop, but figures that the others will take a while to reach them. They aren't doing anything bad, of course, but she thinks it would be best to drop the bomb about her and Eddie softly. She already anticipates that both of them will be subject to plenty of teasing.
She's lost in Eddie's lips and mess of curls when she hears someone clear their throat. Alex's first thought is to scramble away, but Eddie helps her sit up. Standing about ten feet away, is the whole group. Everyone has some level of shock on their face, but some appear smug as well. Dustin groans and begrudgingly reaches into his pocket before shoving a five-dollar-bill toward Steve. Steve hisses a tiny yes and shoves the money in his own pocket.
"You made a bet?!" Alex says, exasperated.
"Yep," Steve says. "Dustin said it'd take you two until the end of the week to get together, but I knew better."
Alex rolls her eyes. And so it begins.
Eddie helps Alex to her feet. Before she can even dust herself off, Steve is pulling her in for a tight hug. His arms wrap around her with such force that it squeezes the breath out of her. "God, I thought you were dead. And It's weird to see you actually partaking in… things like that."
She playfully nudges his arm once they break apart. "Good to see you too, Steve. Did you find your car?"
He smiles as she drops his missing car keys into his palm. "Yes, and you are never borrowing it again."
From the corner of her eye, Alex watches Eddie and Dustin hug. Max approaches Alex next. She doesn't even need to speak to cause Alex to break into a grin; Max simply winks while wishing her congratulations. "Well, if I remember our deal correctly… This means you're supposed to talk to Lucas now," Alex says, stretching up to whisper into Max's ear.
"Maybe," Max whispers back with a slight smirk playing on her lips.
Alex has barely pulled away from Max when Robin grabs her and squeezes her so hard she thinks her ribcage might shatter. "Wow, you're okay, and you're with Eddie now, and-" Robin starts and she can barely get her sentence out with how out of breath she is.
"Robin, it's okay. We can talk about it later," Alex reassures her friend, knowing that Robin will have a hundred questions and that they can't afford the time for Alex to answer them all right now.
Nancy pulls Alex in for a hug next, then pulls away with a tight-lipped smile like she's her concerned sister-in-law. Alex hopes that Nancy and Jonathan can resolve their communication issues so that Nancy becomes her official family one day.
With the hugs of relief out of the way, Steve passes out a couple snacks and a canteen filled with water to Alex and Eddie. The rest of the group courteously provide the two of them a few savory minutes of peace to eat their food before the questioning begins.
"So what exactly happened?" Steve questions finally.
Eddie takes a gulp from the canteen, pauses to swallow, then passes it to Alex. "Alex and I were in the boatshed when Jason and his posse showed up looking for me. I got Alex to go off into the woods so they wouldn't get her, and I tried to get away in the boat. Jason and Patrick came after me."
He pauses and looks toward Alex, as if signaling her to tell her side. She tries and fails to suppress a faint smile at his consideration. "Andy was close to finding me in the woods, so I hid in the lake. I saw Patrick shoot up into the air and… break." She takes a moment to pinch her nose at the horrifying memory, and Eddie squeezes her knee. "It was just like the way Eddie described it. I saw the boat tip over so I followed him to shore."
"Did Andy see you, Alex?" Nancy asks with concern.
"No, nobody saw me."
"Good, that means the cops won't be suspecting you, too. But we should still be careful and keep you out of the spotlight, just in case." Nancy adds.
"Where were you two all night?" Steve questions.
"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh… my walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran." Eddie sarcastically chuckles. "Luckily for me, Alex found me. And she always has a plan."
Alex tries to hide her smile again, while Steve mutters to Dustin not-so-quietly. "It's so cute I might puke."
"I got lucky, really. We were pretty close to a house that belonged to one of my mom's deceased coworkers. I found the key and we were able to get cleaned up and stay there for the evening. Then this morning it was Eddie's idea to get a walkie from the construction site." Alex leaves out the more intimate details of her night with Eddie, knowing that the knowledge would cause Robin to faint.
As if on cue, Robin chimes in with her burning questions. "I guess running for your life really is romantic…" She pauses to look amongst the group. When she doesn't see any outward reactions, she continues. "I mean seriously does no one here want more details? Last we saw them they were being all cryptic and like 'I don't like Eddie I don't like Alex' and now we see them again after we thought they were dead and they're making out at Skull Rock? Do you feel like Bonnie and Clyde?"
Alex cuts her friend off before she can cause her face to turn even more red. Dustin, Steve, and even Max stifle a laugh at Robin's Alex and Eddie impersonations. "Can we please focus on the important thing?"
"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy asks, changing the tone back to serious.
"Yeah, no, I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." Eddie removes his waterlogged watch from his wrist and tosses it toward Nancy, who catches it.
"Nine-twenty-seven," she says after a quick examination.
"Same time our flashlights went kablooey." Robin says.
"Which means what, exactly?" Steve asks, and Alex wonders too since she wasn't around the night before to experience it herself.
"That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick," Nancy clarifies while tossing Eddie his watch back.
"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks," Robin says. Alex nods along, starting to piece together the puzzle despite missing some information.
"And where he attacks from," Lucas adds.
"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart," Max says.
"If he has a heart," Robin points out.
"A stake? Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve asks with a serious intonation.
"It was a metaphor," Max says, and Alex knows she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.
"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie asks, looking to Alex for a confirmation. Alex shrugs, unsure of the technicalities of Vecna. Though she doesn't get her hopes up due to past knowledge of bullets not always killing the other creatures of the Upside Down.
"I say we chop his head off," Lucas says.
"Yeah, I say all of the above, but we can't do any of that until we find a way into the Upside Down." Nancy says, being the most practical one of the group.
"We need El to get her powers back," Max says and everyone turns their eyes toward Alex–except for Dustin who is fervently pacing back and forth in the clearing.
"I can't even get a hold of them right now, so…" Alex trails off, trying to hide the fear in her voice that she has for her unreachable family members.
"Everything was way easier. We had this girl–Alex's sister–she had superpowers," Steve directs toward Eddie.
"Alex's sister with superpowers, yeah Alex told me all about her. I'm pretty caught up to speed," Eddie says with a nod toward Alex. "Hey, uh, Henderson's not cursed, is he?"
Everyone directs their attention to Dustin. Steve speaks for him. "Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely."
"Boom!" Dustin screams, causing Nancy to slightly wince. Eddie and Alex simply look at Dustin, waiting to hear what's on his mind. Though Alex hopes that the loud noise doesn't bring any unwanted attention to their location.
"Bada bada boom," Dustin continues, pointing his finger toward Steve who looks at him with an annoyed expression. "I was right. Skull Rock was north."
"Seriously? Are you serious?" Steve yells, exasperatedly gesturing toward the huge rocky figure. "This is Skull Rock. Okay?! You're totally, absolutely, one-hundred-percent wrong right now!"
"Yes… And no." Dustin says, his tone extremely dumbed down. "This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. It was correct when we got in the car on Kerley. 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. You're still wrong." Steve continues the banter with Dustin.
"Except… it isn't faulty." Dustin points out before turning toward Lucas. "Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?"
Lucas immediately tenses and picks up on what Dustin is getting at. "An electromagnetic field."
"I'm sorry I must've skipped that class," Robin speaks out for everyone in the group that isn't familiar with the situation.
"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." Alex finishes Dustin's statement, finally grasping the point of Dustin's long spiel.
"But we're nowhere near the lab," Nancy says.
"But what if, somehow, there's another gate?" Dustin asks. "One that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful."
"Snack-sized gate," Robin quips.
"How? Why?" Steve questions.
"No idea," Dustin answers. "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 says before abruptly running off down the leaf lined forest path.
"Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Steve says until Dustin stops and turns around. "Eddie's still a wanted man, and Alex might be at risk now, too. We can't just go for a hike in the woods."
Dustin holds up his compass. "This little steel capsule might be the key to saving Max, Eddie, Alex, everybody. What say you, Eddie the Banished and Alex the Enigmatic?"
The attention of the group is put toward Eddie, who speaks dramatically and rightfully so. "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. But, uh, the Shire… the Shire is burning."
Dustin breaks into one of his famous grins and goofily jumps up and down at Eddie's answer. "So Mordor it is. M'lady?" Eddie heaves himself to his feet then holds his ring clad hand out for Alex. She gratefully accepts it and tries to hide a blush for the umpteenth time when Eddie plants a dramatic kiss on the back of her hand. The pair trot into the foliage, leaving the still stunned group behind.
"Still not used to that…" Lucas mutters.
"What is Mordor?" Steve asks while Eddie jogs back to retrieve his left-behind radio and canteen, curls bouncing behind him.
"I'll let you borrow my Lord of the Rings books," Alex says, then pauses with realization. "If I ever get them back that is." She wasn't sure what was happening with her family back in California, but she was starting to think there might not be a return to California in her future. She was worried about them, but she had a hunch that something was going on in relation to what was happening here in Hawkins. Ultimately, she figured they were okay, or at least as okay as one can be when dealing with complications related to the Upside Down. But she knew there was a possibility that her Californian home and material possessions were a thing of the past, whether it be from being forced to go on the run or moving again or even her own death. She tried not to think about the last possibility too long, especially now that she finally had a taste of a relationship with Eddie.
The group treks through the woods with Dustin leading them for a good fifteen minutes or so in mostly silence. The only sound heard is the crinkling of leaves beneath their feet and the odd squirrel or two scampering up a tree. Suddenly, Robin groans out in frustration, causing everyone to turn their heads.
"I can't wait any longer," she says, stomping up to the fresh couple. She grips Alex's shoulders and speaks to Eddie, "Hi, can I borrow this for a second? Thanks."
Eddie looks slightly concerned but mostly confused. Alex just shakes her head at him–typical Robin behavior. Robin leads her friend to the tail-end of the group. When she still has many sets of eyes on her, she speaks up, "Talk amongst yourselves. Privacy, people!"
Steve turns toward Eddie awkwardly. "So… you like… movies?"
"Of course he likes movies, Steve. Everybody likes movies," Dustin says without taking his eyes away from his compass.
"Not everyone," Steve corrects. "Nuns don't like movies."
Steve and Dustin continue to bicker, and Alex is even surprised to see Max strike up a conversation with Lucas. The noise is enough to give Robin and Alex's conversation some privacy. Knowing Robin, Alex is definitely thankful to have some privacy for whatever this conversation is going to turn into.
"You're my best friend for almost a whole year and you don't show interest in a single person nor mention the fact that you have a massive crush on the Eddie Munson. Then you come to visit Hawkins for spring break and now we're dealing with this Vecna crap and Eddie is currently a wrongfully accused wanted man and we thought you might have been dead for the better half a day… and then we find you not only alive but making out with Eddie Munson under Skull Rock. And you expect me to just accept it in stride?!" Robin finishes gasping for air.
"Yes, Robin, you already mentioned most of that earlier in front of everyone," Alex says, happy at least to be having this conversation again in privacy. "I know it's going to be weird to get used to. Honestly it's weird for me to get used to, especially with everything else going on."
"So you are dating?" Robin asks, excitement dancing in her eyes. "It's not just some 'oh my God we might die, let's make out' thing?"
"Yeah, we're dating. At least I think we are…" Alex trails off. She has no experience in this subject besides observing her friends' relationships. Her and Eddie never had an official conversation. But you didn't have to, right?
Robin squeals at Alex's words, causing Steve to look back at them with confusion. Alex shushes Robin before she draws anymore attention. "Did he ask you to be his girlfriend? Where was your first kiss at? How was it?"
"No, we haven't really had a conversation about it or how it's going to work. I don't really have any experience in romantic relationships and I don't think he has much, either. But he called himself my boyfriend, so that's 'official,' right?" And I wouldn't do what we did with just anybody, Alex thinks. "We kissed last night for the first time at the house we stayed at. It was… nice." She thinks back fondly to the memory but is embarrassed to be talking about it. Alex also knows that she'll have to explain these details to Steve later too, but he has the courtesy to wait until they're in private.
"I can't believe it!" Robin starts to squeal again, causing Alex to cover her mouth with her hand. When Alex releases, Robin whisper-yells, "You guys are going to get married and have a cute little metal baby!"
Alex chuckles. "Let's take things slow here, Robin. We've only been dating for like a day. Or maybe a couple days." She isn't quite sure at what point their relationship 'officially' started.
Robin pretends to faint into a smirking Alex's arms. "Oh, does this mean I can start teasing you about Vickie now?"
"Nope," Robin laughs and skips away to join the rest of the group. Alex sighs but can't help but smile as she takes her spot back next to Eddie.
It's hours of walking in circles following Dustin and his compass before he abruptly starts to run through the treeline. Eddie and Alex run in tandem, following close behind him. Alex works very hard not to trip on an unseen branch or rock now that night has made its home in the sky.
"Something's happening. I think we're getting close!" Dustin yells out.
Just as he's about to step into the black water of Lover's Lake, Eddie pulls him back by the shoulder. "Watch your step, big guy. I thought these woods were familiar…"
"Lover's Lake," Robin confirms.
"This is confounding." Dustin tries to make sense of his theory.
"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Max asks with Lucas by her side.
"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna is the same way," Nancy says.
"It makes sense," Alex says. "They're from the same place."
"Only one way to find out." Steve shrugs.
Eddie taps Alex and gestures to her to follow him. A few paces away is a small rowboat covered with a tarp–the exact same one they spent the night together in what felt like ages ago but in reality was just a few days. The others notice the boat and gather around silently. Eddie peels the tarp back. Everyone views the small metal boat in the beam of Steve's flashlight. Steve holsters his flashlight and taps Eddie. The two of them push the boat from the shore into the dark water. The two of them stand on the edge of the shore to anchor the boat in place. Steve offers Robin a hand, but she instead uses Steve and Eddie's heads as a handrail as she teeters into the unsteady boat. Eddie hops in next and then assists Nancy. When Alex tries to get in, Eddie shakes his finger at her. He puts his hands at her waist and lifts her off of the ground and into the boat in one swift motion just like he did in his van the first night they hung out.
Dustin tries to step onto the crowded boat next. Eddie lightly pushes him back. "Hey, hey, you trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?"
"Sorry, Dustin, this is an adults only activity," Alex tries to joke to make Dustin feel better.
"Oh, yeah, you've been an adult for all of a month," Dustin quips back.
"It's better this way, okay? You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble," Nancy says.
"You keep an eye out for trouble," an offended Dustin says, his voice trailing up. "It's my goddamn theory."
"You heard Nance," Robin says.
"Who put her in charge?" Dustin asks in exasperation.
"I did," Alex says, backing the other two girls up.
"Compass?" Nancy holds her hand out toward Dustin, wasting no time.
Dustin throws the world's fastest tantrum but hands it over. He catches the bag of materials that Eddie chucks at him. Steve takes Dustin's momentary distraction to kick off from the shore and jump into the boat himself. "You said four!"
"Sorry," Steve whisper-yells as they float away from the bank.
"Bed time at nine, kiddos! Miss you already!" Robin stands to wave at the younger teens back on land. Her movement causes the boat to rock and Eddie briefly clings to his seat. No one else notices, but Alex does. She imagines it reminds him of the unpleasant events from the night before. She leans into him, not to make a big deal out of his reaction, but to show that she's there.
"Ugh, this boat is making my ass hurt," Robin grumbles.
"Hah, try being two people sleeping in this thing," Eddie says.
"Yeah, well, Alex is like four-foot-ten, so…" Steve pesters Alex.
Alex doesn't even have time to give one of the many sarcastic retorts she had ready because Nancy begins shushing them. "Woah, woah, woah, slow down guys," she says, and Steve and Robin stop rowing the boat. Alex holds the flashlight steady for Nancy, whose hands hold the now spinning-out-of-control compass.
The walkie crackles to life on the floor of the boat. Dustin's staticky voice comes through. "Guys, what's going on? Come on, guys, talk to me."
Robin snatches the walkie from the floor, bringing it to her mouth. "Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital 'aah!'"
Not even a beat passes, and Steve is taking off his shoes and socks in a hurry. "Steve, what are you doing?" Nancy asks as Steve tosses his belongings into a heap on the boat floor.
"Somebody's gotta' go down there and check this out. Unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then… It's gotta be me. No complaints, all right?'
Alex knows logically that Steve is the best man for the job, but it still makes her nervous. She'd offer to do it herself but it's not a well-kept secret that Alex isn't the greatest swimmer.
"Hey, I'm not complaining. I do not want to go down there," Eddie says, pulling a plastic grocery sack from his pocket. He and Alex wrap the flashlight in the plastic bag to give Steve something to see in the murky water. "Good luck."
Eddie wedges an unlit cigarette between his lips. As he lifts his lighter toward his mouth, Robin snatches the cigarette with a, "Gross," and tosses it to a swift death in Lover's Lake.
Eddie looks to Alex for back up, but she shrugs and jokes to try to make herself less worried about her best friend's impending descent. "Sorry, Eds, no smoking tonight. Unless you have a joint that you're hiding somewhere. And in that case you're legally obligated to share it with me."
"Well, if that happened, you'd probably end up overboard, and then I would have to go in after you," he jokes back.
Steve stands at the edge of the boat, when Nancy stops him. "Hey, Steve. Be careful."
With a nod, Steve launches himself into the water. Alex leans over the side of the boat, grips the metal, and glances into the dark abyss as if she could catch a glance of what's happening beneath it. As expected, she sees nothing. It's so dark, she can't even see her own reflection. But she stays in that position, hoping that it will bring some relief. Eddie puts a hand on her back in comfort.
"Where are we at, Wheeler?" Robin asks.
"Closing in on a minute," Nancy answers. Alex's grip on the boat tightens.
Her fear for her friend builds until Steve unexpectedly bursts out of the lake, water gushing onto Alex's face. "Oh, Christ!" Eddie squeals and falls backward.
"I found it." Steve gasps for air.
"You found it!?" Alex asks gleefully, glad for both Steve's safety and the fact that they're one step closer to defeating Vecna, saving Max, and clearing Eddie's name.
"Yeah, I found it," Steve confirms.
Robin relays the good news to the group on shore. "Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein. Steve found the gate."
Steve holds onto the side of the boat next to Alex. "It's pretty wild. It's more of a snack-size gate than the mama gate, but still, it's pretty damn big."
Steve lurches underwater for a split-second, like something is pulling him down. Alex scrambles for him, trying to grab his arm to steady him or pull him up. They join hands, but before Alex can help him, he's lurched underwater again. This time the pull is fast and hard and Alex gets pulled in too. His grip on her wrist is lost at some point, but she's too disoriented to tell. She whirls about underwater. At first it's too dark to see anything or tell which way is up and which way is down, but soon she sees the glowing red split in the Earth and she knows it's the gate. She's about halfway to it. She could go either way–up or down–but it doesn't take any thought for her to decide to follow Steve. She haphazardly propels herself through the water. Her jacket and boots coupled with her poor swimming skills and the non-existent breath she took before entering the water make getting to the gate a nearly impossible feat. With little air remaining, she reaches the gate and tries to force her way through. It's damaged from Steve entering it just moments ago, but she still pushes with all of her might. The red membrane finally gives way and she feels herself falling upward and gasping for breath.
She doesn't have time to orient herself or catch her breath because Steve is being drug across the rugged landscape of the dried up lake by what appears to be a tentacle. It releases its grip on Steve, leaving him in a heap on the stony ground. Alex sprints after him, avoiding the many obstacles in her path. Were they tentacles? Vines? Roots? Alex wasn't sure, but after seeing one of them drag Steve and her down here, she made it a goal not to step on one.
Steve shakily gets to his feet. His eyes spot Alex just as she's getting to him. The two of them firmly hug each other, despite the various aches and pains that they are each experiencing. They check each other over for injuries, like a concerned mom. Then the two of them look toward the sky–if it can even be called that here. It's a deep, murky grey, with red flashes like a thunderstorm made of blood. They share a silent look. Alex knows that Steve is thinking just like her; they're actually in the Upside Down.
Otherworldly screeches sound from the distance. From all directions, a small swarm of winged creatures fly directly toward them. "Stay down," Steve says, diving for the oar on the ground.
Alex doesn't have a weapon herself, so she helplessly obliges. The creatures circle them. Steve jumps and takes one of the creatures down with a swift swipe of the oar, but it only stays down for a moment. Three of the creatures swarm Steve. One wraps its lengthy tail around Steve's neck, slamming him to the ground. Now pinned to the ground, two of the other creatures start sinking their teeth into a defenseless Steve.
Alex dives for the oar next, but a fourth creature has its eye on her. She swings the oar and manages to slam the bat-like creature into the ground, but just as before, it flies back into her with a vengeance. It makes a diving sweep and takes a gnarly bite of her leg, directly opposite of her Demodog scar on the other leg. She swings the oar again, sending the bat skidding across the ground. It's not even extremely painful, but she lets her hand drop to her wound knowing exactly what she'll find. Her hand is wet with a large amount of her own sticky blood. She knows she'll lose a lot of blood, and with her condition, another bite or two is likely lethal. She takes another swing at the bat when it comes at her again, but she's already woozy from blood loss. The oar makes contact with nothing but air, and the bat wraps its tail around her neck just like Steve. The two best friends lie beside each other in a puddle of mostly Alex's blood, struggling for air during what may be their last moments alive.
Author's Note: I'M SO SORRY! I took so looooong to update and left you all hanging. You can sacrifice me to the demogorgon now :( I did get busy with school and whatnot, but I really don't have a good excuse besides I got really bad writer's block. I wanted this to be perfect, so I kept rewriting it. However, I promise that I'm back for good for both this fic and my other one. I even have a few more fic ideas up my sleeve. My condolence gift is that this chapter is over 10k words. I really hope you enjoy it!
Also, in case it was not made clear, Steve and Alex have no romantic feelings for each other whatsoever. They are platonic soulmates! The two of them are very conscientious of this fact, but the other characters (Eddie, and previously the kids and pretty much anyone who knew them) are not. Even in today's age, a lot of people wrongfully think that a boy and a girl cannot be friends without any underlying romantic feelings, but this misconception was even worse in the 80s! But I can definitely reassure you that this story has not been and will never be a love triangle! But that doesn't mean poor Eddie won't ever be worried about it :(
Thank you once again for your support. Your reviews, favorites, and follows mean the absolute world to me-especially after this period of writer's block!
Okay, last thing before I let you go, I promise. I'm thinking about changing my name back to my original pen name on here (airbornetoxicevent). If any of you have been around for a long time you may remember it. However, most of my followers and attention to my stories came once I changed my name to my current pen name (twentyeightwalkers). I just want to return to my roots as they say, but I don't want to risk it if people may be confused on who I am/why they're following me. If anyone has any advice or thoughts, please let me know.