All For Love. | Steve Harrington x Reader

Chapter 15.

"When I got to 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." Eddie told the group, chuckling bitterly.

"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy asked. "Yeah, no, I — I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." Eddie told Nancy, taking off his watch and chucking it towards Nancy.

The girl caught it and looked at the broken watch's time, "9:27."

"Same time our flashlights went kablooey." Robin stated. "Which means what, exactly?" Steve asked, brows furrowed in confusion. "That, that source of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick." Nancy explained.

"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks." Robin stated. "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 told the group, shrugging nonchalantly.

"If he even has a heart."

"A stake? Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve questioned, getting more confused as the time passed. Y/n sighed and looked at the boy beside her. "Steve," Y/n softly called. "Yeah?" Steve replied.

"It was a metaphor, dumbass."

"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie asked, looking at the group for confirmation. "I say we chop his head off." Lucas added in.

"All of the above, but we can't do any of that 'till we find a way into the Upside Down." Nancy told the group. "We need El to get her powers back." Max said, looking down at the dirt covered ground.

"Everything was way easier. We had this girl, she had superpowers—"

"Superpowers. Yeah, you've mentioned her." Eddie told Steve before his eyes then drifted to Dustin, "Hey, uh, Henderson's not, like, cursed, is he?"

The group all looked behind them to look at Dustin, who still seemed to be pacing back n forth. "Cursed? No, no, no. He's fine." Steve quickly reassured.

"Mental? Absolutely."

Y/n rolled her eyes at the jabs that Steve was giving Dustin, "Stop being petty towards Dustin, Steve."

"Why do you always defend him? Why can't you defend me—"

Dustin had suddenly yelled, making the group all flinch. "Boom!" Dustin yelled, voice echoing around the forest.

"Bada — bada — boom." Dustin said, looking at Steve. Steve's face scrunched up confusion. "I was right. Skull Rock was North." Dustin told Steve, smiling cheekily.

"Seriously. You're doing this right now, Dustin." Y/n deadpanned, not believing that this was all the boy could think about.

"Oh my god — this is Skull Rock! Okay?" Steve exclaimed.

"Mm-hm." Dustin hummed.

"You're totally, absolutely, one-hundred percent wrong. Right now!" Steve yelled, face becoming slightly red. Y/n sighed and groaned as she had to stick with hearing these two bicker for the longest time since this whole Vecna stuff started.

"Yes — and no." Dustin told Steve.

"Wha — oh my god." Steve said in disbelief before putting his face into his hands. Y/n rubbed Steve's shoulder comfortingly as she did feel bad for her best friend — kind of.

"This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers. It was 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. The compass was." Dustin explained.

"So — so you're using faulty equipment, you're still wrong." Steve firmly told Dustin. "Except it isn't faulty," Dustin told Steve, "Lucas, do you remember what can effect a compass?"

Lucas's eyes lit up, "An electromagnetic field."

Dustin smiled brightly, "Yup."

"I'm sorry, I must've skipped that class." Robin hinted on not understanding.

Y/n butted in, "Basically, 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.." Y/n explained before trialing off.

"There's a gate." Lucas finished.

Y/n smiled as she snapped her fingers before pointing at Lucas.

"But, we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy told Y/n and Dustin. "True. But, what if, somehow, there was possibly another gate?" Y/n hypothesized, looking at Dustin who the. gave her a thumbs up as he smiled proudly at the older girl.

"Uh, a gate that we don't know about — not yet, that is. It would have to be smaller, way less powerful." Y/n continued.

"Snack-sized gate." Robin told Y/n. "How? Why?" Steve questioned. "No idea. All we know is that something is definitely causing the 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." Dustin replied.

"And a shot at freeing Y/n from this curse." Dustin finished before beginning his walk down the steep hill.

"Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Steve called out, "Eddie's 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 Y/n and Eddie. What day you, Eddie the Banished?" Dustin asked, looking a Eddie — as did everyone else.

"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—" Steve nodded in agreement.

"But, uh, the Shire — the Shire is burning." Eddie stated as Dustin began jumping in excitement.

Eddie stood up, "So Mordor it is."

Everyone began walking down the hill as Steve stood confused. "What is Mordor?" Steve asked, looking at Y/n. Y/n shrugged, "I've always had a hard time learning D&D since the party were kids — so, we're both stumped."

The two watched as Eddie came back, grabbing his walkie and cantina. "Get your stuff, dude. Let's go." Steve told Eddie.

Y/n patted Eddie's back as he walked beside Steve and herself.