EPISODE SIX
the dive.

EVERYONE WAS sat in the car, on their way to eddie's as robin spoke up, "not to be a wimp, but can i sit in the car? 'cause this is gonna totally and royally suck."

nova turned down the volume on her mixtape amd fiddled with the sleeve of lucas' jacket he had practically forced her to wear as she listening to nancy and robin talk.

"it'll be fine." nancy replied to robin, robin huffed. "i just can't stand to see those dull eyes of eddie's break again. i really, really can't." she mumbled.

"at least he can drink himself into feeling better." steve shrugged from in the boot with dustin and max.

"that's what our mom does." max spoke up as the group looked at nova and max with sympathy, nova just looked out of the window, feeling uncomfortable under everyone's gaze, not seeing the look lucas gave her.

"why don't we give it a trial? 'hey, eddie. uh, good news first this time. we got you some dustin-approved junk food and that six pack you requested! oh yeah, and we found vecna. only the bad news is he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension, and the gates closed so we have no way of getting to him! so basically, you're screwed. and no, i know you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed'!" robin rambled as they all sighed at her .

"woah, hey, hey. maybe we don't put it like that." lucas spoke up, nancy nodded, " 'we're one step closer to finding vecna.' that's what we say. that's what's important."

lucas looked over at nova who had been quiet for a while. her eyes were closed and she was frowning slightly. she wasn't asleep, but he knew something was wrong. "hey." he tapped her, she opened one eye and looked at him.

"...are you okay?" he asked. "yes." she lied

nova hadn't said it yet, but she could still feel him. vecna. he was still watching her every move. she wasn't safe yet, and she hadn't fully escaped him. she just hoped they found a way to kill him soon, because she had a really terrible feeling about it all.

"oh shit." nancy suddenly spoke as they all looked at her and then to where she was looking. cops and hundreds of people were outside reefer rick's house as they all quickly got out.

"c'mon. this way." nancy told them as they hid behind a van.

"—reporting a homicide here on the lake." they all shared a look, "officer callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. we made our way to the shore of lovers lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. it was there that we found the victim, an eighteen year old senior from hawkins high, patrick mckinney."

nova looked at lucas in shock, knowing that was one of his old basketball team members. the boys eyes widened as he looked down.

"we've also identified a person of interest, eddie munson." he held up a photo of eddie as novas heart dropped, and everyone shared a worried look, quiet gasps leaving their lips.

"oh, man...this is not good. really not good." steve whispered.

officer powell continued to speak about a meeting at town hall for anyone who wanted to go, when the walkie went off.

"dustin. can you hear me? wheeler?" eddies voice exclaimed quietly, dustin picked up the walkie and gasped. "eddie! holy shit! are you okay?"

"nah, man. pretty...pretty damn far from okay." eddie's voice cracked slightly, "where are you?" dustin asked hurriedly.

"skull rock. you know it?" eddie answered as dustin nodded, "uh, yeah, that's near cornwallis and—"

"garrett, yeah. i know where that is." steve spoke up, heading towards the car as they all followed, "hood tight. we're coming!"

nova moved the fallen hairs from her braids out of her face as max practically dragged her towards the car.

ONCE THEY got out the car, nova put on her headphones again and they all began to follow dustin, or steve who seemed to have taken charge, to find eddie.

they were walking through the woods for quite a while, nova's eyes scanning the woods every five seconds nervously. lucas was walking next to her, and a scoff escaped her lips when she saw steve running off in a different direction.

"apparently we're going this way now? i swear to god, if they get us lost," she began, but then looking at lucas, she frowned and took of the headphones. "hey. you okay?"

"oh, yeah. i'm fine." he immediately answered, not wanting to worry her. "you've always been a terrible liar, lucas." she looked up at him.

"just...thinking about patrick, you know?" he spoke slowly and she nodded, feeling awful. "yeah. i'm really sorry about him..."

"i mean, it's...it's like why him? but then, i remember this one day, he came to practice with a black eye. he said he fell, but he was clearly lying." nova winced slightly at his words, knowing the feeling.

they stopped walking and he turned to her. "it's like everyone vecna targets has something in their life...something that's—"

"hurting them." she finished for him. "haunting them..." she continued and he stopped, and she looked down at her shoes.

"yeah...i didn't really know patrick, so it was easy to just look the other way, i guess. but i did know you. and i'm sorry i wasn't there." he began and she immediately shook her head, taking his hands in hers. "no, it's not your fault. i disappeared."

"no...you didn't. i just didn't look hard enough...but i see you now. i see you." tears filled nova's eyes as she heard his words. she didn't know how he managed to affect her in so many ways with just a few words.

"you know i love you, i always have and i always will...and i get that you need time. but i'm always gonna be here. i'll wait for you, nov. however long it takes, i swear." he spoke, her eyes widened and she smiled. nodding slowly, she wrapped her arms around his neck and he smiled, her heart feeling as if it was being mended, as if all her troubles had gone away.

"oh, boom!" steve exclaimed as they all looked at him, "bada bing, bada boom. there she is, henderson." he spoke as they all walked over to him.

"skull rock! in your face, man. in your stupid, cocky little face." steve continued as nova rolled her eyes at his childishness.

"it doesn't make sense." dustin spoke with confused eyes. "yeah, yeah. even with it staring you in the face, you can't admit it. cant admit you're wrong, you little butthead." steve smirked.

suddenly, something jumped out as they all turned around to see eddie with a large smile on his face. "i concur, you, dustin henderson, are a...total butthead." he smiled as dustin ran over and hugged him.

"jesus, we thought you were a goner." he sighed, "yeah, me too, man." he pulled away. steve and eddie shared a nod in getting as the others joined them.

they handed eddie the drinks and food as he began to explain what happened. "when i got to the shore, i tried calling you guys, but, uh...my walkie was busted, man. drenched. so, uh...i did the thing that i do now, apparently. i ran." he chuckled sadly.

"do you know what time this was? the attack?" nancy asked, eddie nodded, "yeah, i know the exact time. my walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." he chucked his watch at nancy who caught it and read the time.

"9:27." she read, "same time our flashlights went kablooey." robin raised her brows. "which means what, exactly?"

"that that surge of enegery was vecna attacking patrick." nancy told him as nova rubbed her eyes and sighed. "well, we're one step closer. we know how vecna attacks now."

"and where he attacks from." lucas nodded. "so we just need to sneak into his lair in the upside down and drive a stake through his heart." max spoke up.

"if he even has a heart." robin chuckled. "a stake? is he like a vamp—is he a vampire?" steve asked with wide eyes.

"it was a metaphor." max sighed, "a bullet should work on him, right?" eddie asked, "i say we chop his head off." lucas shrugged.

"i'd say all of the above, but we can't do any of that until we find a way into the upside down." nancy spoke up as dustin looked over.

"we need el to get her powers back." max spoke, nova sighed. "i miss el and will."

"and mike?" dustin asked, "no." nova put a hand on her hip with a raised brow.

"everything was way easier with el. we had this girl, she had superpowers." steve began, "superpowers. yeah, you mentioned her." eddie spoke, before frowning.

"hey, uh, henderson's not cursed is he?" they all looked over at dustin who was pacing with his compass.

"cursed? no. mental? absolutely." steve said, "boom!" dustin suddenly yelled as they all jumped.

"bada...bada...boom." he walked over to steve, pointing at him. steve pulled a face. "i was right. skull rock was north."

"seriously? you're serious?" steve sighed. "mhm." dustin nodded with a smile.

"this is skull rock, okay?!" steve exclaimed, pointing at the rock as dustin chuckled. "you're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong."

"yes. and no." dustin spoke as steve groaned, "oh, my god." he put his head in his hands.

"this compass 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." novas eyes filled with realisation as she worked out what dustin meant.

"when i was leading us here, i wasn't wrong. the compass was." dustin held it up. "so you're using faulty equipment. you're still wrong." steve said in disbelief.

"except it isn't faulty. lucas, you remember what can affect a compass?" dustin asked, "an electromagnet field." nova spoke up for him as they all raised a brow at her.

"yep." dustin grinned. "i'm sorry i must've skipped that class." robin frowned. "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." both lucas and nova spoke at the same time as eddie looked at them with a raised brow, before smiling to himself.

"but nowhere near the lab." nancy frowned, "but what if, somehow there's another gate? a gate we don't know about. it has to be smaller and way less powerful."

"snack size gate." robin shrugged, "how? why?" steve asked, clueless as usual.

"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. and i hope it is because then we'd have a way to vecna. and a shot at freeing nova from this curse." dustin said before walking away.

"where are you going?" steve frowned at the boy, "hey! eddies 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 nova and eddie. what say you, eddie the banished?" dustin smiled as they all looked over at eddie.

"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 is burning." eddie sighed as dustin began to jump up and down with a grin.

eddie stood up and shrugged. "so mordor it is."

they all began to follow dustin as steve complained as having no idea what mordor was, as eddie rushed to get his beers and then chased after them.

i love writing this fic sm