CHAPTER 23
THE ANSWER

VERONICA slowly lowered herself down an incredibly sturdy rope, her hockey stick underneath her armpit. Steve followed behind, jumping down from the rope and onto the oddly quiet soil beneath them. Veronica was instructed to put on a pair of swimming goggles and blue bandana over her face, and when she looked around, she finally understood why. The Upside Down was full of ash and clouds of dust, must different from her natural world. Veronica stepped a bit ahead, eyes widening at the spectacle of tunnels before her. "Holy shit," Steve muttered.

She looked over her shoulder at Steve, brow furrowing at the sight of the other dimension. "How do we even navigate down here?"

Mike Wheeler stood ahead of everyone, holding a poorly drawn map in his gloved hands. Veronica peered over his shoulder and stared at the map with a confused expression. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's this way!"

"You're pretty sure, or are you sure?" Dustin asked.

Mike turned and exclaimed, "I'm one hundred percent sure! Just follow me and you'll know!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Steve called out. He stalked forward to where Veronica stood beside Mike, her hands placed on her hips. Steve puffed out his chest to look more commanding in front of the blue-haired girl, but she wasn't particularly paying attention. He shined his light on Mike's map. "I don't think so. Any of you little shits die down here, I'm getting the blame. Got it, dipshit?" He looked behind him to call out, "From here on out, I'm leading the way!"

When he turned to Veronica, he saw that she had her hand out. Through the goggles covering both of their eyes, both could barely see what the other looked like. Regardless, Steve hesitantly took Veronica's hand. "You let go any time we're down in these creepy tunnels," she muttered, "you're dead, Harrington."

"Duly noted," he nodded before gesturing for everyone to follow them.

Veronica and Steve sprinted hand in hand through the tunnels, hustling the group of kids along with them. They headed straight from where they landed, and Veronica could tell that these tunnels went on for miles. She wondered what the rest of this world looked like, but Dustin explained that it actually was just our world covered in complete darkness and ash.

Veronica had squeezed Steve's hand tightly with each step. The tunnels were covered in slime and black dirt. She had never been much of a clean freak, but Veronica felt the need to take a chemical bath once she got out of here. The ash was practically clogging up her lungs, but she had only been walking for ten minutes.

They reached an area that had four entrances, but that wasn't the most confusing part of this square. When Veronica tilted her head up, she noticed the roof was pulsating. It looked like it was made of a slimy substance, and it glowed a bright red. The roof looked as if it would burst, and Veronica quickly moved under it.

"What is this place?" Max asked from behind.

Veronica continued to stare at the pulsing roof. "Good question."

Just as they continued to go straight through the square, they heard a rush of air pass, and then a familiar scream. Veronica turned her head, recognizing the shriek. "Dustin," she whispered, and then they were running back. The boy in question was on the ground, screaming for help. He wiggled on the dirt while trying to find his flashlight, and practically fell into Veronica's arms when she caught him. He continued to scream in her ears.

"What happened?! What happened?!" Steve yelled, shining a light on Dustin's face.

"IT'S IN MY MOUTH! GET IT OUT OF MY MOUTH!" Dustin shrieked in an extremely high pitch. "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

Veronica had her fingers plugged in her ears before she then used them to rip Dustin's bandana from his mouth. Dustin coughed out onto the ground, spit covering his lips. "Shit," Steve whispered, but Veronica waved him off.

"You good, kid?" asked Veronica with a raised brow.

Dustin sat up on his knees, staring into the light and blinking. The goggles made his eyes seem larger than they really were, and that made Veronica chuckle when their eyes met. "I'm okay," he muttered.

Steve shook his head. "Very funny, man. Nice." He walked off with a disappointed expression, along with the other kids. Dustin's hair was ruffled by Veronica before he had to catch up with the rest of the group. Veronica grabbed Steve's hand again, pointing for him to continue straight from the map.

Another five minutes passed, and they arrived at another square, but Steve was sure this was their final destination. A large boulder sat in the middle as slime oozed from the walls. He shined his light across the crevices, nodding as he did so. "Alright, Wheeler," Steve called, "think we found your hub."

"Let's drench it," Mike said.

They grabbed the cans of gasoline from their backpacks. Lucas had his own hose attached to his can, which was incredibly smart. Max poured her gasoline straight from the can, just like Veronica and Steve. The blue-haired girl stepped around the border of the square, drenching each corner with gasoline. Unlike most people, she enjoyed the scent of it, but that wasn't particularly a good thing. Upon placing her foot in each space she walked, Veronica felt an odd pressure below her, and she lifted her boot. She shined her light on the area.

The last thing Veronica expected to see was there. The one missing piece to the puzzle. It was the answer she had been looking for a whole two years. It was right there, below her feet.

Veronica released a blood-curdling scream at the mangled body of Louie Moreda at her feet. The shriek didn't stop, in fact it lasted for several minutes, even as Steve held her tightly. Her brother's body was hard to make out, but Veronica knew him from any angle. His body was wound beneath the dirt, vines encasing him below. His dark eyes remained open with vines shoved down his throat. His brown curls were practically gone and completely covered by vines. He had no pulse.

Louie Moreda hadn't been kidnapped years ago, nor had he been murdered by some mysterious child killer. He had been taken by the Upside Down, and eventually, died here. How he got here or why she wouldn't ever know. And granted, she didn't want to know. She never actually wanted to know the answer to his disappearance, but now she finally had it, and it fucking killed her from the inside out.

Steve locked his arms around him as she cried for dear life, her tears practically filling her swimming goggles. His can of gasoline had fallen and poured at their feet. The rest of the kids were gathering around them, lighting up the sight at their feet. "Shit," Lucas muttered, recognizing the boy he used to see at school. "Is that Louie?'

Steve tapped Lucas on the arm, telling him to be quiet. "I – I – I –" Veronica struggled with how to say what she was feeling, but truthfully, she was feeling everything all at once. She was sad. She was angry. She was petrified. "He's dead. It took him. He was down here this whole fucking time."

"Ronnie, we –"

"No, Steve, shut up for one second!" Veronica screamed, hitting his shoulders hard. Tears streamed down her eyes. "I – I should've been there. He's been down here this whole time. This whole fucking time! I should've been with him on Halloween. This wouldn't have happened if I had been there. He wouldn't have died. He would be alive. He would –"

Steve slapped his hand over her mouth. "Ronnie, I know this is a difficult time for you right now. Trust me, I fucking know." He noticed her teary eyes wandering to the ground, where Louie's corpse laid, but he tilted her face to his again. "Look at me," he ordered, wiping a few tears that escaped the insides of her goggles with his rubber-gloved hand. "You're okay. It's going to be okay. It's not your fault, okay? I'm gonna be here no matter what, okay? We need to stick together right now. We need to light it up. This is the other way to defeat the Mind Flayer and heal your past. You can do it."

Slowly, Veronica nodded and stood up. Steve removed his hand as she rubbed away her tears. She didn't look at the ground again. She couldn't bring herself to, and walking away from her brother's body was the strongest thing she ever did. They cornered into one of the entrances of the square, and Veronica found herself clutching onto Steve more than usual. She felt disgusting being so clingy and vulnerable in this moment, but she couldn't help but appreciate Steve for everything he had done for her recently. He was no longer the Steve Harrington she knew in sophomore year who got all the girls and bullied the nerds. He was a different person; a person Veronica Moreda wanted to be around for a while.

"Alright," Steve said as the kids huddled around them, "you guys ready?"

The kids nodded. Steve glanced beside him at Veronica, feeling for her hand in the darkness. She took his in her own and squeezed it. "What about you, Moreda?"

Veronica inhaled deeply, wanting to cough at the dirty air, but she didn't. She brought out her lighter from her back pocket. "Let's light it up," she whispered.

"I'm in such deep shit," Steve mumbled as Veronica threw her lighter out.

When the lighter hit the ground, it lit up in flames. The fire scattered amongst the tunnel, casing everything into a pile of ash. Although it wasn't smart, Veronica lifted her goggles, watching the flames dance around them as her eyes began to sting. Vines lifted into the air as the fire hit them. Her heart felt bandaged; it felt better to have an answer and be at peace. She watched her brother's corpse light up, and soon fall into ash. Relief spread through her, igniting every muscle and heart string. It was over. She finally knew.

Dustin laid a hand on her shoulder, patting it softly. "Rest in peace, Louie Moreda," he whispered, and Veronica finally felt whole again.

( made by JustSav )