Take Me Home Again (Eddie Munson X OC)

Chapter 18 - Moving Along

Mentions of past drinking**********

A month had passed with little to no progress. There were so many promising clues and so many auspicious leads, but most led to nothing. They often felt like they had barely chipped the surface of what was to be found. So many pieces of evidence and parts of stories with nothing to tie them together in the end. It was driving the group insane, some coming close to giving up entirely at one point. They all knew they couldn't just stop, there was too much at risk. They had made some progress and that was good enough, but the helplessness they felt when they were repeatedly punched down further was enough to make anyone feel too tired to keep trying. But the ever present reminder that Vecna was out there, healing and planning the end of the world was enough to give them some of their motivation back. 

The kids tried their best to piece it all together, they were usually the ones who did all the heavy thinking anyway. It came so easy to the four to see the bigger picture, unconfined by the boundaries of the sense of impossibility that most adults possessed. Their imaginations, especially combined, were infinite in their theories. Some were more reasonable than others, but at this point no one could rule anything out. With the army Nancy saw, plus the giant monster she mentioned, they weren't sure when he'd strike or what he was doing. The most logical explanation was that he was creating these monsters, or gathering them, and maybe training them. Can you train a demogorgon? They had no idea, but they couldn't take the chance of him getting the drop on them, they wouldn't allow it. 

Early on, the party had gathered supplies; weapons, armor of sorts, protection, things of that nature. Over the course of time, they had upgraded those weapons and practiced with them, becoming quite efficient in some cases. As they could feel the final battle growing closer, they could see everything returning to as adjacent to normal as the town could be. Lots of people had fled right after the gates opened, having been fed up with the series of unfortunate events that kept happening in their small town. At least now they had an explanation as to why it was happening there, El telling the group of her past with 001 and what she had done to him. 

Phoenix had begun to open up more as well, coming out of their room more and more. No one made a big fuss of it, trying not to overwhelm them into feeling like they had to hide again. They started to participate more and even began to leave the house with the party, joining them on their escapades of research. They still didn't speak much, teaching the others a bit of basic sign to be able to communicate easier. A lot of them, mainly the younger kids, caught on quickly. At some point, they even began going out on their own. At first, it was just to walk and get out of their head, but then when Wayne found them walking down the street one day and offered to take them to lunch, they couldn't refuse. It had become a weekly thing, every Sunday they'd have lunch at the diner down the street from the trailer park. Neither were very talkative when they were together, mostly just enjoying the company. It was odd, not hearing them speak more than a few words or short phrases at a time, but it was nice to know that they still had a voice after not speaking for so long. Wayne was content to just sit quietly across from each other, only filling the silence when he was updating them about his life. 

Everyone could see them slowly getting better. They were writing less manically and were communicating their emotions to the others more, mostly Dustin, Will, and Joyce. Joyce had been a rock in Phoenix's life, after offering her home to them, they didn't want to ask for more, but Joyce did more. She would encourage Phoenix often, sharing how she went through something very similar, twice. Her first was Bob, who died to demodogs in the lab, and Hopper when he was taken by the Russians. Phoenix was in awe of her strength, how she moved on so quickly even though it hurt like hell and how she took it all without crumbling. It amazed the young birdie that someone could go through so much and still live and thrive. The thought spanned towards the rest of the party, seeing all the pain and suffering they had also endured and still, they were fighting til the very end.