She stepped into the circle, and waited for 001 to put on her blindfold. She was never ready to face off, especially against the other children. Her abilities were solely geared towards tricking the opponent, or hiding, but neither of those abilities would be useful if the opponent wasn't using their eyesight.
She tried the best she could, trying to distract 002 by making him believe he was being pushed out of his circle. But it was no use, since there wasn't any actual force. Just make believe, pretend. And he knew that. He slammed her into the wall behind her, hard.
Null woke with a yelp. Her nightmares weren't uncommon, but they'd usually been filled with monsters from the upside down, instead of the human monsters from her past.
"What's wrong?" Eddie asked, panicked. "Are you okay?"
Null began to calm down when she started to remember where she was. "Yeah, just a nightmare is all."
"Do you have those a lot?" Eddie asked, sitting down on the couch next to her and stretching his arm around her. It was a casual action, as his arm rested on the back of the couch behind her, but it was an action she did not miss. She'd be able to lean into him, cuddle into his side like she did with Steve, if she chose to. She refrained.
"Almost every time I close my eyes," null laughed, rubbing her eyes and forcing herself to wake. The sun was just beginning to break across the lake.
"Why don't we go into the garage out back before the sun rises? Less windows, probably more safe for us to hide," Eddie suggested. She nodded, and he grabbed her hand to guide them there quickly.
"So what was your dream about?" He asked as they sat in the boat in the garage, facing each other.
Null shifted downward, to lay on the base of the boat with her head propped on the seat she was using just moments before. "It was about the lab."
Eddie closed his eyes as he began to tease her. "Yup I totally see it now. It's such a vivid picture you've painted for me."
She hit him lightly in the arm with the oar laying beside her. "Oh shut up, Munson."
He laughed before he asked, "can you show me it?"
"Show you what?" She replied.
"The dream. If you can make me see anything you want, show me the dream," eddie added.
"Why would you want to see my nightmare?" She asked incredulously.
"I want to see what could possibly terrify a girl like you. If a disfigured body doesn't make you squeal like I did, I'm curious to see what would," he replied honestly.
She met his gaze and held it for several long moments, she gave into him and not only let him see her dream, but feel what she felt. When it was done, he looked at her again in shock.
"That was fucking insane! There was no color in that place at all. Like some sort of shitty insane asylum!" He gushed.
"Oh sure. The lack of color was what caught your attention. Just pay no mind to anything else," Null rolled her eyes.
"Well that too," he lowered himself down as she had, his sneakers meeting her shoulders, and her combat boots meeting his forearm. They sat in silence for a while, and Null leaned her head back to look towards the ceiling before closing her eyes and enjoying the rare silence. "Staring contest?" He asked after a few mere minutes.
Null groaned before meeting his eyes. She wasn't overly fond of eye contact. It made her uncomfortable, squirmish. Eddie was no exception to this, only it was a different sort of uncomfortable. She wasn't scared, but more nervous. After eddie held her gaze for a freakishly long amount of time, Null cast an illusion so she could lean her head back once again and close her eyes. After a few more minutes, eddie sighed in defeat.
"I've never met someone who could beat me in a staring contest," he said.
"You still haven't," Null replied, before dropping her illusion.
"You little cheater!" Eddie bellowed before rocking the boat and interrupting her bliss. "You will rot in hell for the sins you've committed!"
"Oh god, drop the theatrics Ozzy," Null grumbled.
Eddie then laid down again, but this time right next to her, his head turned towards her as she continued to look at the ceiling. "You're a fan of Ozzy?!"
"Of Ozzy? I'm undecided. I'm a fan of Black Sabbath, though," she offered.
"Yes!" He exclaimed, before grabbing her shoulders and shaking her.
Startled, she tried swatting his arms away, but to no avail. "What the hell is wrong with you, Munson? Stop that!"
"Stop?" He asked, as he had her pushed slightly above him so he could shake her properly. "Your wish is my command, sweetheart." He removed his hands and retracted them to rest behind his head, giving Null just enough time to put her arms out before falling into his chest. She swallowed nervously. "Hey there, why don't you take me out first?" Eddie teased before winking.
Null groaned before rolling off of him. Once she finally got herself settled and calm again, Eddie moved suddenly to tickle her. "Eddie!" She squealed before trying to seat his hands away, again.
"What? I've got to entertain myself somehow," he said innocently.
"Stop!" She said laughing, before she heard yelling from outside. "Eddie! Stop! I think someone's here!"
He tensed immediately, before acting quickly to throw a tarp over the both of them, their bodies turned towards each other, noses nearly touching. She cast them to be invisible to whoever was here, as an extra precaution.
The door to the garage opened a minute later, followed by the floorboards creaking.
"Someone was here," a familiar voice says.
"Maybe he heard us, got spooked and ran," another suggests.
"Don't worry. Steve will get him with his oar," a voice that was undeniably Dustin's said, and Null but back a laugh. She smiled at Eddie and nodded her head reassuringly, letting him know they'd be fine. His body relaxed slightly, though he still looked uncertain.
"I know you think you're funny," Steve replied, making Null's breath catch. It'd been a while since she'd seen Steve, and even longer since she'd heard from him. "But considering everyone in this room has nearly died a hundred times, personally, I don't find it funny in the slight-"
At that moment, Steve poked Eddie with the oar which prompted him to jump up and grab Steve, holding a knife to his throat.
"Wait wait wait wait!" Steve spout out nervously.
"Eddie relax!" Null calmed from the boat, and Eddie's eyes flicked to hers quickly before scanning the rest of the room.
"Eddie! Eddie! It's me, Dustin. Steve's not gonna hurt you, right Steve?" Dustin asked.
"Right. Yeah," Steve said quickly.
"Steve, why don't you drop the oar," Null asked, and at the sight of her, Steve was immediately surprised, though dropped the oar nonetheless.
Null approached Eddie, and set her hands on his shoulders. "Why don't you drop the knife, huh?" She whispered. "Please?" He met her gaze out of the corner of his eyes before relenting.
"Jesus Christ," Steve breathed, watching Null as she linked her arms in Eddie's and guided him towards Dustin.
"We're here to help," Dustin explained.
They all took a seat, null keeping her arm linked in his for support. She leaned her head into his shoulder, whispering, "I told you they'd find us eventually."
Eddie explained the situation to the rest of the group after everyone had been properly introduced.
"So we got some good news and bad news."
"How do you prefer it?" Dustin asked.
"Bad news first, always." Eddie replied, making Null smile. She found him amusing, even when he wasn't trying to be.
"All right. Bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you." Dustin started.
"Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."
"Like, 100% kind of convinced."
"And the good news?" Eddie asked.
"Your name hasn't gone public yet," Robin answered.
"But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do."
"And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."
"Hunt the freak, right?"
"Exactly."
"Shit."
"So, before that happens, we find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence."
"That's all, Dustin? That's all?" Eddie asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it." Dustin replied.
"We usually rely on this girl who has super powers," Steve explained.
"Eleven," Null confirmed with Eddie. He nodded.
"Right so we're kind of in a brainstorming phase," Dustin concluded. "Nothing to worry about."
Seconds later sirens sounded, and Eddie tensed, before Null grabbed his arms and making them invisible.
"It really amazes me how quick you are with that," Dustin marveled.
After the sirens passed, Robin asked, "so you're staying with him right?"
"I can, if that's what we think is best," Null replied.
"No," Steve objected, too quickly. "I mean without eleven, we're gonna need someone super powered to help us, right?"
"Well yeah it'd help," Dustin pondered.
"But we've dealt with this before," Robin pointed out. "Plus leaving Eddie with Null guarantees that he'll be safe."
"I agree. I should stay with eddie," Null said.
"I've got no complaints on that," Eddie added.
"Alright then. Just walkie us if you need us, we'll be back as soon as we can," Dustin finished, before starting to leave.
Steve cast a longing look at Null, which she missed since she was actively avoiding looking at him, though Eddie caught it and made a mental note to ask her about it later.