↣ 𝘈 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘱 𝘛𝘰 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘰𝘳

"Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car?"Robin stated while leaning against the window. "Cause this is gonna totally and royally suck."

"It'll be fine." Nancy communicated with reassurance.

"I can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again." Robin remarked while gazing out the window. "I really, really can't."

"At least he can drink himself into feeling better." Steve remarked while gazing at the six-pack positioned between his knees. Bailey directed a glare at him.

"That's what my mom does." Max commented.

"I can't imagine how this'll go." Robin sulked. Then, a comment on the future: "Hey Eddie, uh, good news first this time. We got some Dustin approved junk food and that six pack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Bad news is that he's in the other, darker, and scarier dimension that we told you about and the gate's closed so we have no way of getting to him. He's entirely shut off to us so basically you're screwed. And I know you're already screwed, but you're double, deeply, screwed."

"Uh... maybe don't put it like that." Lucas suggested.

"Oh shit." Nancy said while they all gazed forward.

Upon Nancy's arrival, police vehicles and a gathering were present surrounding the lake house, prompting the group to exit the automobile immediately after she halted.

"...A murder out here on the lake, Officer Callahan and I arrived here 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 18 year old Senior from Hawkins High, Patrick Mickney. His limbs... his body, I mean it was disfigured. There was an eye witness on the scene. We have also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson."

"This will get Eddie killed." Bailey expressed, gazing at the others, his apprehensions intensifying.

"We encourage anyone with information to please come forward. You've got a lot of questions, and I'm going to answer as many as I can. Two o'clock, at town hall, where anyone from the Hawkins community is welcome. But right now, I've got some work to do, and I appreciate your understanding."

"Dustin, can you hear me?"

Dustin grabbed the walkie in alarm, rushing away from the crowd. "Eddie! Holy shit! Are you okay?"

"Nah, man. Pretty... pretty goddamn far from okay." Eddie responded.

"Where are you?"

"Skull rock, do you know it?"

𐬽𐬼𐬽

They were hiking through the woods when they were disoriented and couldn't find the way to Skull Rock. Dividing into several factions. As the trees encircled them, Bailey peered into the forest below. "Dude, I'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way."According to Steve.

"It's north. I'm positive. I checked the map," Dustin articulated, managing his irritation towards Steve.

"You do realize Skull Rock, it's a super popular make-out spot?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, it wasn't popular until I made it popular," Steve shot back, Bailey rolled his eyes. "All right, I practically invented it."

Steve dragged Bailey beside him while attempting to catch up with both Steve and Dustin, who were disputing over the correct direction. Bailey merely sought to arrive at the location and deliver Eddie safely.

"Boom! Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Henderson, Skull Rock! In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face."

"Doesn't make sense." Dustin whispered as he looked around.

"Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you in the face, you can't admit it." Steve remarked while positioning his hands on his hips and surveying the expansive landscape. "Can't admit you're wrong, you butthead."

A tremendous thump was heard, prompting everyone to turn and observe Eddie standing on the rock, gazing down at them. "I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a...total butthead."Dustin exhaled in relief as he glanced at Eddie.

"Jesus, we thought you were a goner." Dustin stated while embracing Eddie, who offered a soothing pat on his back.

"Yeah, me too, man." He whispered. "Me too."

𐬽𐬼𐬽

"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh..." Eddie took a sip of the beverage, allowing the refreshing cold of the water to envelop him. "My walkie was busted, man. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran."

He emitted a subdued giggle, while Bailey let the rocks to cascade beneath his shoulder as he endeavored to concentrate, albeit his thoughts were scattered.

"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy inquired.

"Yeah, no, I... I know exactly what time it was."Eddie replied, he looked down at his watch and sighed. "My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked."

He tossed the watch to Nancy, who caught it gracefully. "9:27." She says out loud.

"Same time our flashlights went kablooey." Robin replied.

"Which means what, exactly?" Steve looked up and questioned.

"Essentially, this indicates that Vecna exerts control over all aspects." Bailey remarked while gazing up at Steve. "Similar to a puppeteer manipulating its marionettes."

"Well, we're one step closer." Robin said. "We know how Vecna attacks."

"And where he attcks from." Lucas continued.

"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart." Max nodded in agreement.

"If he has a heart." Robin responded.

"A stake? Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve questioned.

"No, Steve." Bailey states while Max simultaneously responds.

"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie asked.

"I say we chop his head off." Lucas suggest.

"All of the above, but we can't do any of that. til we find a way into the Upside Down."Nancy states as all eyes are directed on her.

"We need El to get her powers back." Max frowned as she crossed her arms.

"Everything was way easier. We had this girl. She had superpowers." Steve commenced a rapid summary of the preceding years.

"Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her." Eddie responded, glancing at Dustin, who was pacing restlessly. He gazed at him in bewilderment. "Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?"

"Cursed? No, no. He's fine." Steve responded prior to directing his gaze towards Dustin. "Mental? Absolutely."

"Boom!" Dustin shouted, his voice reverberating over the forest. He pivoted and directed his finger at Steve. "Bada...bada... boom. I was right. Skull Rock was north."

"Seriously?" Steve argued. "You're serious?"

"Yes" Dustin acknowledged with a nod, then subsequently shook his head. "And no."

"Oh my God."

"This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers. Correct when we got in the car on Curly. 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."

"So you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong." Steve states, with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Except it isn't faulty." Dustin stated that as he directed his attention to Lucas. "Lucas, remember what can affect a compass?"

lucas paused. "An electromagnetic field."

"Sorry. I must've skipped that class." Robin expressed utter bewilderment over the discussion.

"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power." Dustin explained. "So either there's some super big magnet around here, or..."

"There's a gate."

"But we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy shakes her head.

"But what if, somehow, there's another gate? A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful."

"How? Why?"

Dustin turned around. "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 Max from this curse." Dustin commenced his descent down the hill.

"Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." Steve halted, capturing Dustin's attention. "Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go hike in the woods."

"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie." Dustin replied and turned to Eddie, who was gazing at him. "What say you, Eddie the Banished?"

All eyes shifted to him as Eddie rubbed his face prior to responding. "I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you,I think is a really bad idea.But, uh, the Shire...The Shire is burning. So Mordor it is."

"What is Mordor?" Upon Steve's inquiry, they commenced to depart.

────────────────────────

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀

- we have a few chapters left of this book, before it's completed until season five. My god I'm so excited and nervous and also sad.

To all the people that have supported me closely- Tags: @norasnetflix @wrensofvizla @KleeAlise11 @kiesluverr

𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵e