Boom! Bada. Bada Boom! Just like that another chapter.
Okay so the start of this chapter has Roni and Steve being... romantic... so if that's not your style but you like this story I would suggest skipping the first quarter of this chapter. It's not to smutty, but it's taken so long for Steve and Roni that they needed this moment... I needed this moment for them. :)
We couldn't get out of the Creel house fast enough once everything calmed down, and by some grace of God I convinced Nancy to take me back to my apartment. Seemingly convincing her and Robin that whether I was alone or with them Vecna would get in my head when he wanted to, there wasn't any stopping him. The others were going back to the Wheelers' basement to keep an eye on Max and go through everything they knew now about our new enemy, but I needed a moment, needed to process without the constant questions.
Unlocking my apartment door, I walked in and looked around the small room. If felt like a lifetime ago since I had been back. The couch was still pulled out into a bed from the day Steve, and I had argued after the first nightmare with Chrissy's death. Turning on one of the lights from the lamp on the end table, my eyes fell on one of Steve's jackets and I felt a pang of guilt run through my chest. I missed him more than I knew I could, but he was right, I had been pushing him away been pulling away... he didn't deserve that.
With a sigh I tossed my keys onto the small round table by the door and locked the dead bolt before going into the bathroom and turning on the shower. Once it was warm enough, I stripped my dirty, dusty, and bloodstained clothes to the floor and stepped in, letting the water cascade over my face and down my back. I winced as the warm water soaked through the bandage on my shoulder and reached up to pull it away. The injury wasn't as bad as it originally looked, it wasn't deep, but it was annoying and every time I moved, I was reminded of it... which I believe was Vecna's intent. Turning my face back up into the water, I closed my eyes and thought back to what I'd seen.
Patrick was dead, I knew that before the reporters would, but that wasn't where my mind went. No, images of El and Dr. Brenner kept coming back to me. How angry she had been and the surprised at the power she produced. Dr. Brenner wasn't surprised, almost pleased, and when she grabbed his hand, there was no demand to follow, but she had, despite who he was, what he'd done... and after all of that she had her powers back, somehow, she had found them again. I was stuck in a loop, lost in my own head as I tried piecing together what I'd seen, what I could have missed in the vision. The waters temperature change pulled me back to reality and I quickly finished the shower and stepped out.
Pulling shorts on and an old arcade t-shirt I wiped the mirror of the fog that covered it and stared at my reflection. I looked as tired as I felt, but at least the dust from the house was gone. As I left the bathroom a knock on my door stopped me from moving any further. Looking at the clock in the kitchen, I scowled at the time. It was well past eleven, there was no reason anyone should be at the door, but as I tried to consider who it was the knocking continued. Hesitantly I walked towards the door and looked through the small peephole.
"Steve?" I questioned unlocking the door and scowling at the guy anxiously standing with his hand raised to knock again. I hadn't expected him to be here tonight, he hadn't spoken to me since the stairs of the Creel house and hadn't argued for me to go to the Wheelers with everyone. And yet, here he was looking unsure. "Why..." I started, but stopped myself shaking my head before continuing, "Don't you have a key?"
"I, uh... I wasn't sure if I should use it, you know, we haven't really talked and..." He started scratching the back of his head nervously. His voice trailed off as he finally looked at me and I gave him a small smile before stepping to the side and motioned for him to come in. Once he was inside, I shut the door, locking it and turned, watching him as he kicked off his shoes before sitting on the sofa bed.
"Steve..." I sighed leaning my back on the door and looking at my feet. "If you came here to yell at me or get angry at... I just, I'm not sure I have any fight left in me."
"I'm not." He shook his head, before adding, "I'm sorry." I looked up at him surprised and confused.
"What?" I asked taken back. "Why...? Why are you apologizing?"
"Don't get me wrong, I'm still mad, but... but it was never at you, and I'm sorry if I made you think I was." he sighed, "This whole situation, the fact that it keeps happening, it keeps pulling you in..."
"I've watched you nearly die three times," he continued, and I opened my mouth to interrupt but he put his hand up to stop me, "but people you cared about died, and you had to watch. You had to watch Bob die, Billy, you lost Jim... and now you have been forced to watch three other people die... it wasn't fair for me to tell you to slow down to just stop."
"To be fair, I haven't really made it easy." I whispered swallowing the lump in my throat.
"Everyone you've been close to has left or died, you pulling away...it's your way of protecting yourself, but not just that, you're trying to protect everyone else too." He stood up and took a step towards me, "You were right, I know you, I've known who you are and I... I love you Veronica, I wouldn't want you to change, wouldn't change anything about you."
"Steve..." My voice was less than a whisper as he said the three words. I wasn't sure what to say, wasn't sure if I could say it. He had said it so easily, like he knew, it should be that easy to say, and still I wasn't sure... That was a lie, I knew how I felt, but I had no idea what to call it, no idea what it was.
"Hold on..." He said softly closing the distance slowly, his soft voice stopping my spiral. His hand came to caress the side of my face and his thumb brushed my cheek as he smiled and shook his head slightly. "I am not saying that with the expectation of you saying it back. I'm not telling you to force it out of you, Roni, I'm telling you because... you need to know. You have everyone else's back, all of Hawkins and they don't even know it, you need to know that while you have their backs... someone has yours, I... I have your back; I will always have your back. You can fight for everyone in Hawkins, and I will make sure I fight for you."
His eyes made a quick glance down at my lips and I found mine doing the same to his and then our eyes met again before any remaining distance was closed and his lips met mine. My eyes closed and I placed my hands flat on his chest before slowly gliding them up and wrapped one arm around his neck as the other rested on his shoulder, my hand on the back of his head. The kiss started slow, soft, before I felt his tongue graze my bottom lip and I granted him access to deepen the kiss. The moment that happened I felt myself being pushed against the door, his other hand rested on my upper arm before sliding up to the base of my neck, his thumb grazing my jaw. My lips moved with his and I started to move my arm back down to the front of his chest before pulling at his jacket, urging it off.
Releasing his hold on my face, he pulled his arms out from his jacket and tossed it somewhere in the room before bringing them back to my face and down to the hem of my t-shirt. His fingers grazed the skin under it and a shiver went up my back and I let out an uncontrolled gasp, breaking our kiss. His eyes met mine, and he held them there as he lifted the shirt higher, gently pulling my uninjured arm out of the arm hole before slowly sliding the shirt over my head and down my injured shoulder until it fell to the ground. I hadn't put a bra back on after my shower, which left me standing there bare from the hips up, but his eyes remained on mine. His hand trailing up my side lightly grazing the side of my breast, before his lips found mine again, I instantly parted them the kiss deepening almost immediately. My hands were at his waist, working to undo the belt, once it was loose, I found the bottom of his shirt and lifted it. In a smooth motion Steve broke our kiss again and lifted the shirt the rest of the way before wrapping his arms around me, his hand grazing over the scar that wrapped around my left arm from the demo-dogs a few years back. Standing bare chests against each other, he pulled his lips from mine trailing them down my jaw.
I felt him bend down slightly until his hands were on the back of my thighs and he lifted me up. My legs wrapped around his waist, and I brought my arms around his neck, one of my hands on the top of his head pulling his hair gently so he was looking up at me. Smiling, I placed my lips on his. I felt him smile against mine, before pulling away from the door and slowly walking us towards the sofa bed a few feet away. He kept his movements smooth and slow as he kept his hold on me, one hand around my back the other on the bed bracing us as he knelt on the mattress lowering us down until I lay on my back staring up at him. It wasn't long after that my shorts and his jeans joined the rest of our clothes somewhere in the room and the covers were thrown over us. Placing himself between my legs he pulled himself up on his forearms, one of his hands running through my hair as he slowly moved forward. His movements were slow at first as he stared down at me, but as my breathing quickened, so did his and eventually I could hold back the quiet moan as he started to move faster. As he quickened his pace he groaned before leaning down, crashing his lips into mine, my hands reaching around his back as I lifted myself slightly, the angle changing just slightly making us both gasp, but he didn't stop. My fingernails scratched down his back to his shoulders, until I had to break our kiss to take in a breath.
I could feel the coil of pleasure in my belly twisting, and I opened my eyes to see Steve's on mine, but his jaw was clenched, and his muscles were strained as he tried to hold back slightly. This time I reached my hand up to the back of his head and pulled him down hard to my lips and bucked my hips up to meet his. I leaned my head back as I felt the coil tighten before I reached the top and felt my body clenched around him. He let out another groan, his head bowing into the nape of my neck, working through my release and as my body clenched around him again, I moved forward in one strong thrust as he reached his peak. I felt him breathe heavily into my shoulder as he thrust a few more times just as I came down from my high. As we caught our breath, he lifted his head until he could rest his forehead on mine, our sweat mixing together and he placed a kiss to the tip of my nose first before finding my lips.
Once he rolled off me, he pulled me to his side. I let one leg lay, lazily over his and let my head rest on his chest. I closed my eyes and listened to the beating of his heart and listened to his breathing as it slowly went back to normal. His hand moved gently up my arm, drawing small circles. It was easy to let the feeling lull me into sleep, but every time I felt myself start to slip a small panic raced through me and my eyes shot open. I did my best to control my jumpiness but by the third time Steve knew something was going on and he pulled me closer and squeezed my arm gently.
"You okay?" he questioned. I was staring at a blank spot on the wall across the room. I thought about his question, and then my answer. The quick answer would have been yes, it was so easy to just say I'm fine and figure out if it was true later, but he had been right earlier. I'm not alone, and I couldn't do any of it alone, if I wanted to just survive.
"I'm scared." my voice didn't sound like my own. It wasn't strong and confident, it was small, quiet, and unsure. His arm tensed around me and after a second, I took a deep breath, "He gets into my head so easily, I just... if I let my guard down... it's getting harder for me to push him back, what if the next time I can't."
"You're stronger than you give yourself credit for." he said quietly. "You were able to pull yourself out today..."
"That wasn't me." I admitted pulling my eyes away from the wall I was staring at and turning my head, so I was looking up at him. He was scowling down at me, and I smiled pushing myself up on my forearm. He had one hand behind his head and the other that had been on my arm dropped to my lower back as I lifted myself up. "It was you. Every time he pulled me in, your voice, I don't know, pulled me out. I only saw pieces of what Vecna was doing and... the difference from every time before was you were there when it started before, he had a full grasp on my consciousness."
"I'm not sure how, but it grounded me to myself." I finished. As he processed what I said I pushed my hair over my shoulder and leaned down to kiss him. This kiss was nice and gentle, and I held myself there for a few seconds before laying my head back down, so it was nestled between his neck and shoulder. He wrapped his arm back around me, and I felt him press his lips to the top of my head.
"Get some sleep Roni." he whispered into my hair. "I'm not going to let him take you."
"You can't promise that." I said as I closed my eyes.
"No, but I'll fight like hell to try." he answered, and I smiled. Slowly I let myself relax and fought the urge to keep my guard up, eventually falling into a dreamless sleep.
When I woke up several hours later, it wasn't Vecna or a headache, but the memory of Brenner and El. Opening my eyes, I realized I had rolled, and my back was now to Steve's chest, his arms wrapped protectively around me, his breath hot on the back of my neck. The sun was slowly greeting the horizon outside as a sliver of orange peaked through the window beside the door. I pulled myself out of Steve's warm embrace, careful not to wake him. Sitting on the edge of the bed I found my underwear and I threw my T-shirt on and looked over my shoulder at Steve. His hair was a mess, and he seemed to be scowling in his sleep. Reaching over I brush his hair from his forehead before leaning down and pressing my lips to scowl lines above his eye.
Standing I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cabinet, turning on the sink. My apartment was at the back of the arcade which means the view out the window above the sink was a brick wall. I stared at each brick listening to the water in the sink running, thinking about what I'd seen, about El. Her yell, the surge of power in the lights...
"Hey." Steve pulled me from the thought, and I blinked turning to see him standing in the kitchen entryway, he had put on a pair of sweats that were hanging low on his hips and hadn't replaced the shirt yet from last night. "You're up early." he said, taking a step into the room, scratching the back of his head.
"Couldn't sleep." I shrugged, turning the sink off and spinning around fully, leaning my back against the counter.
"Nightmare?" He asked concerned.
"Not this time." I answered honestly jumping to sit on the counter. He stepped closer until he was standing directly in front of me, his hands on the counter beside my legs. "I... I saw something, after Patrick..." I started. He was looking up at me curiously as I spoke, and I felt his thumb brush my bare thigh encouraging me to continue. "After Patrick fell back into the water, it's like I was pulled away and I saw ... El."
"Wait... El?" He questioned leaning back a bit. "I thought she was in California."
"So did I." I spoke.
"You think it was Vecna messing with you?"
"I don't know, this, it felt different, not so much an attack." I explained.
"You think she's in trouble?"
"Maybe..." I shook my head and took a breath. "She looked... she reminded me of the El right before I left the lab. Her hair was cut, there were guards, guys in white coats... It was like the lab just... different. She was running away and then she was making the lights explode and then..." I stopped as the image of Brenner and her walking away came back to me.
"What?" Steve asked quietly, his voice coaxing me back to him and I met his warm eyes.
"Dr. Brenner was there." I answered and I could see him tense. He didn't know the whole story of Martin Brenner and what he did, but he knew my relation to him and a bit of the treatment he enacted.
"I thought Brenner died at the school with the Demogorgon?" He said and I nodded in agreement.
"So did I, but he was there."
"You think he opened another facility?"
"No, this... this felt more personal, like it was for El." I shook my head. "And after everything he did to her, made her do, the damage he caused, the deaths... she could have left but she didn't. He reached his hand down and she took it. It just doesn't make sense."
"He's helping her find her powers again?"
"To what end?" I answered with my own question. He couldn't answer the question, neither could I. It was an open question, symbolic too of the entire situation we were in in Hawkins. What was the end, how would it end, would it ever end? I realized that was what woke me up, it was the unknown. "What's it say that my father, who was presumed dead, doesn't even reach out to his daughter... what's that say about me?"
"That the man is a piece of shit." Steve answered easily and I smiled. "And he isn't worth it." Leaning down I pressed my lips to his and leaned into him before placing a hand on his chest to push him back.
"We should probably go check on Eddie." I said jumping from the counter.
"Nancy said she would come by and pick us up at some point this morning. Figured we'd do a food run, said something about getting him beer." Steve stated, following me out of the room.
"Of course, Eddie wants some beer..." I rolled my eyes.
"Hey, you sure you're, okay? I mean we can try and look for El if you want." He reached for my wrist pulling me back to him.
"I don't even know where to look." I mumbled into his chest. "If I try and find her, I could just be leading Vecna to her. I just have to trust she knows what she's doing." I didn't like the thought of not looking or helping her. It was why Brenner kept me around for so long, and why he trained me, but right now I was useless to her. I had told her to go to California, to be a normal kid, and now I wish I kept her closer.
Robin knocked on our door a few hours later, and after stopping at the store and stuffing ourselves back into her car we started the drive to Reefer Ricks.
"Not to be a wimp, but can I maybe sit in the car for this visit?" Robin asked from the front seat. Dustin and Steve were eating chips in the back as she spoke from my spot behind Robin, I noticed Max and Lucas, Lucas's hand just barely touching Max's. "Cause, this is gonna totally and royally suck. I just can't stand to see those doe eyes of Eddie's break again... I really, really can't."
"At least he can drink himself into feeling better." Steve said from behind me, and I looked back at him as he lifted the case of beer.
"That's what my mom does." Max seemed to agree, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
"Why don't we give it a trial run?" Robin said before taking a breath, "Hey Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that sixpack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna only the bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension, that we told you about and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him. Like he's entirely shut off to us, so basically, you're screwed. And no, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed."
"I'm not sure that's how we go about telling him." I shook my head.
"Yeah, maybe we don't put it like that." Lucas nodded.
"We're one step closer to finding Vecna." Nancy said.
"Short and sweet, and positive." I agreed.
"See Robin, positive spin can make all the difference." Steve commented before stuffing another chip in his mouth. Smiling and turned back towards the road ahead of us. Up ahead there were several cars blocking the entrance to Ricks home and among the vehicles there were police and news vans.
"Nancy." I stated, leaning forward pointing out the front window.
"Oh shit." she said pulling the car over. We all filed out of the car and made our way towards the large group of people. As we stopped, I looked out at the lake that seemed to shine against the sun and instantly thought of Patrick's body splashing into it. When I had seen his death last night, a part of me knew this was the lake... but there was no real markers or indicators, so I tried to be optimistic... I was wrong. "Come on, this way." Nancy said and I felt Steve's hands on my shoulders leading me in the direction Nancy had gone. His hands gently squeezed, hoping to reassure me, but I was already dreading what we were about to hear. We snuck around the side of a news van and listened as Chief Powell, Jim's replacement, addressed the many reports all anxiously waiting.
"As many of you may know by now the Roane County line received a call a little after midnight... reporting a homicide here on the lake." I almost felt like my vision was on repeat as he spoke, images of Patrick pulled under water, hovering in the air. "Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from the house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18-yeaer-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney. His limbs his body..." I stopped listening, turning to walk away. I knew what happened to his body, the breaking bones still echoed in my head.
Steve was behind me, his hand on my arm keeping me from running down the dirt road and into the wood. As I passed Dustin, I heard a muffled call out and stopped, Steve running into my back. I turned and looked at Dustin's back as it continued to make noise.
"Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler?" I grabbed the walkie talkie out of his bag, and he turned looking at me confused.
"Your bag was talking." I answered looking over my shoulder at the reporters and officers all still talking about the murder. Walking further away I pulled the antenna up.
"Eddie?" I said into the speaker releasing the side button, static answering my question first until a voice came through.
"Andrews? Shit, Jesus, thank God." I heard Eddie say sounding beyond relieved. Dustin quickly took the radio from my hand walking past me followed by the others.
"Eddie, Holy Shit." Dustin exclaimed quietly. "Are you okay?"
"Nah man." Eddie answered and I heard the waiver in his voice. "Pretty... pretty goddamn far from okay."
"Where is he?" Robin asked.
"Where are you?" Dustin repeated her question.
"Skull Rock." Eddie answered, "Do you know it?"
"Uh, yeah..." Dustin nodded closing his head as he thought about the direction Eddie was in, "Thats near Cornwallis and..."
"Garrett." Steve finished quickly looking up at us before turning back to Dustin. "Yeah, I know where it is." he was already moving towards Nancy's car before Dustin responded and I quickly picked his backpack up from the ground and pushed him in the direction of the car.
"Hold tight, we're coming." Dustin responded quickly. "We're coming."
Once we got to the trail head Dustin pulled out his compass and quickly started up the path into the woods outside Hawkins, but we had only made it a few yards in before Steve and Dustin started arguing about the directions.
"Dude, I'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way." Steve insisted with his hands on his hips.
"It's North." Dustin said holding a map and looking at his compass, "I'm positive. I checked the map."
"You do realize that Skull Rock, it's like a super popular make-out spot, right?" Steve asked and I narrowed my eyes in his direction amused.
"Yeah, so." Dustin rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, well it wasn't popular until I..."
"Until you what?" I interrupted him walking past him and Dustin. Dustin's eyes got wide and he looked between Steve and I.
"Well... I... I mean..."
"Relax, you've made out with a lot of girls." I laughed patting his shoulder as I started in the opposite direction Dustin was leading us. "You really think girls didn't talk about you and Skull Rock at school?"
"That was before..." I heard him move towards me and I turned, putting my hand up to stop him.
"I said relax." I smiled at him and saw the anxiety on his face ease. "I'm giving you shit Harrington."
"Really?"
"Yes." I rolled my eyes this time and gave him a quick kiss before looking over his shoulder at Dustin, who was looking back at his map and compass. "Also, Dustin... Steve's right, you're going the wrong way, Skull Rock is this way." I nodded in the direction behind me before turning and starting the hike up the hill.
"Roni, Steve Where are you..." I heard Dustin call behind us, but I didn't turn to respond. "Where are you going... Steve..."
"Stop whining! Let's go." Steve called behind him before quickly catching up to me. "Wait, hold on, how do you know where Skull Rock is?"
"I could make you sweat it out..." I finally said before shrugging, "Or I could just tell you that I used Skull Rock as a shelter for like the first year after I left the lab. I was too scared to go into town, thought Brenner would come looking for me there. This was close but far enough that I felt somewhat safe I guess."
"Shit." He breathed out.
"Then someone started bringing girls up here..." I said playfully. "And just like that I joined society." The conversation died down and we walked quietly through the trees. Eventually Dustin caught up to us and started arguing with Steve about the direction again.
"You two seem better." Nancy stated, coming up beside me. Glancing at her I nodded and looked back at the back of Steve's head smiling to myself.
"So, you guys talked last night?" Robin asked.
"Yeah." I sighed. "Turns out I'm more terrified about all this than I wanted to admit."
"Well, I mean that's understandable, I'm terrified, everyone should be terrified." Robin said. "And you're more than allowed to be scared, I mean you've seen more than any of us." I smiled at her and slowly nodded.
"Oh boom!" Steve called ahead ducking through a group of branches. "Bada Bing, Bada Boom! There she is Henderson, Skull Rock... In your face man, In your stupid cocky little face."
"It doesn't make sense." Dustin scowled, stopping in front of the large rock structure looking at his compass. I walked by him and patted his shoulder.
"Give it up Henderson, you were wrong... for once in your nerdy life you were wrong." I said walking up to the large boulder.
"But... The map says..."
"Dude, it's staring you in the face, and still, you can't admit it?" Steve groaned. "You just can't admit that you're wrong, you butthead." As the group crowded in behind us a loud thump made us turn, a guard up. Eddie was standing just behind us looking just as relieved to see us as we were to see him.
"I concur." He said looking at Dustin before letting out a deep breath. "You, Dustin Henderson are a... total butthead."
"Jesus, we thought you were a goner." Dustin stated, happily walking towards his friend hugging him.
"Yeah, me too man." Eddie sighed as he embraced Dustin. He looked up at us and I recognized the haunting look in his eyes, the look of having seen too much, the eye that had seen nightmares.
Eddie crouched in the large opening of Skull rock as we gathered in the clearing just below it listening to him as he explained what had happened the night before. He had already rummaged through the bags and was quick to pick out the junk food and canteen. Steve was standing below me, back again the small boulder I was sitting on, his face in a fixed scowl.
"When I got to shore, I tried calling you guys, but uh..." he paused taking a large drink from the canteen, gasping in relief, and wiping his mouth as he continued. "My walkie was busted man. Drenched so, uh, I did the thing that I do now apparently. I ran."
"Anyone would have ran Eddie, give yourself some credit." I tried giving a comforting smile. He returned the smile, but I could tell he wasn't fully convinced.
"I mean this makes sense, if this all happened the same time our flashlights went kablooey, then we are one step closer..." Robin said looking at us.
"How?" Steve asked.
"The power surge in the attic," Nancy explained.
"It's his tell when he attacks." I nodded. "He has to use a lot of power with each kill."
"Well, we're one step closer." Robin said. Looking around the group, I saw Dustin still looking at his compass behind the group and pacing back and forth, his attention on something completely different. "We know how he attacks."
"And where he attacks from." Lucas added.
"So, now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart." Max said.
"If he even has a heart." Robin mumbled a response.
"A stake? Is he like... Is he a vampire?" Steve stood up a bit straighter looking up at me.
"It's a metaphor." Max rolled her eyes.
"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie questioned looking at the group.
"I say we chop his head off." Lucas suggested.
"All of these are great ideas... except they require us to get up close and personal with him and that didn't really work in my favor the last time." I commented matter-of-factly.
"But that was just in his head, maybe..." Lucas started but I raised my eyebrow at him.
"In person is better?" I finished. "I'm not sure I want to test the theory, if he has so much power just in his own head."
"Regardless, we can't do anything until we find a way into the Upside Down." Nancy chimed in.
"Could we open one?" Max asked, "I mean El opened the first one, right?" Everyone's eyes turned to me, and I shifted in my spot uncomfortably.
"I can't open a gate." I shook my head.
"I mean if El could, so could you right?" Max questioned.
"First, El and I were trained very differently at the Hawkins Lab, and Second I wouldn't even know how to start." I explained, bringing my leg up and wrapping my arm around it.
"But if we asked her..."
"I don't think she knows how she did it." I interrupted Lucas. "Look the Hawkins lab was a lot of things and among them, inhumane, would largely describe it. What I know about El's time there after I left, is they pushed her past her limit and forced her into pulling the Demogorgon out, if we do it... in the same sense they did, who knows what could be pulled through."
"Right..." Lucas nodded, and his voice trailed off.
"Hey uh..." Eddie cut in and his attention was on Dustin, who was still pacing and talking to himself. "Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?"
"Cursed? No." Steve answered easily. Dustin had stopped pacing and was looking into the trees, "Mental? Absolutely."
"Boom!" Dustin shouted excitedly, startling the group. He turned Steve and took a step forward taunting him, "Bada, Bada Boom! I was right. Skull Rock was North."
"Seriously?" Steve stated, exasperated rolling his eyes. "You're serious?"
"Mm-hmm." Dustin hummed happily.
"We are physically standing at Skull Rock Dustin..." I groaned running a hand through my hair.
"You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong." Steve shook his head. "Right now."
"Yes." Dustin agreed and I scowled completely confused. "And no."
"What?"
"Oh, my God!" Steve threw his hands up annoyed.
"This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. It was correct when we got in the car on Kerley. But..." He paused, holding up his compass and looking around the group. "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 Dude." Steve shrugged. "You're still wrong."
"Except it isn't faulty." Dustin stated firmly turning to Lucas, "Lucas do you remember what can affect a compass?"
"An electromagnetic field." Lucas said his eyes widening in understanding.
"Yep."
"This is giving me a headache." I groaned, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose.
"I'm sorry. I must have skipped that class..." Robin said just as confused.
"In the presence of a strong electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power." Dustin explained pointing to his compass before gesturing in the direction of the woods, "So either there is some super big magnet around here or..."
"There's a gate." Lucas finished for him.
"How?" I scowled. "We knew of two gates, the lab and mall, both of those were closed."
"Right, but what if somehow, there is another gate?" Dustin offered. "A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful, or you would have felt it, right Roni."
"I mean I guess." I nodded slowly.
"Snack sized gate?" Robin suggested.
"How?" Steve questioned. "Why?"
"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate." Dustin stated excitedly. "And I hope it is, because then we'd have a way to Vecna and a shot at freeing Max from this curse." Without waiting he started moving down the hill towards the trees.
"Where are you going?" Steve asked, taking a step forward as Dustin continued forward. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, Eddie is still a wanted man. We can't just go for a hike in the woods."
"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie." Dustin turned, this time turning to hold up his compass and looked at Eddie. "What say you Eddie the Banished?"
"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor," Eddie was still crouched over the bag of groceries, but as he spoke, he looked up, his voice wavering slightly. I scowled at his statement and looked at Robin and Nancy with a shrug, "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 was smiling widely and started to jump excitedly as Eddie spoke. Standing up Eddie looked at Dustin. "So, Mordor it is!" He slowly made his way towards Dustin who had already turned to walk into the woods. There wasn't much discussion as the group began to turn to follow Dustin.
"What is Mordor?" Steve asked under his breath as he turned around and reached up grabbing my hips and pulling me down from the boulder I was sitting on. As my feet found the ground, Eddie moved behind us and Ste rolled his eyes watching Eddie grab the bag he had left on the ground. "Grab your shit man. Come on." We both waited for Eddie to pass us before we both started down the trail in the direction Dustin had led the group.
Okay I would like to note that for a perspective, this is not Steve and Roni's first time together, this is just the first time I wrote about. I mean they live together basically so its assumed. I just don't want you to read it like it was the first time they ever slept together.
Also, I hope it wasn't rushed and did justice to these two because man to they deserve to be happy... but I'm bias.
Let me know what you thought and if you have any suggestions.