*Eddies POV*
The idea of getting mind probed by a child with freaky superpowers did not sit right with me. Not like I'm one to talk, considering the whole demon look. But this was some next-level shit, I can't have her looking at my memories, what if she sees something embarrassing, or worse my past.
Everyone got quiet as she placed a makeshift blindfold across her eyes and stepped into a pool of water that I missed noticing before.
"Wait, guys, I did not give my consent, you can't just have a stranger go into my head without me agreeing. That's like assault or something." I said nervously, whilst backing away.
Robin and Steve grabbed either side of me and moved me closer to Eleven, a pang of betrayal passed through my heart. The people I trusted the most ended up agreeing to have my mind read. Struggling to slip free was a waste of time as they sat me in a chair and poked my neck with a sharp object.
"Hey, what was that," I said drowsily.
Blinking out of consciousness I heard someone say, "good thing I raided the Russian's cool medic kit, this sucker came in handy," I think it was Robin who spoke.
How does that old proverb go? The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Maybe this was for my own good and I just didn't know it yet.
*Elevens POV*
Stepping into the void of black I searched for Eddie, I found him passed out on a chair and touched his forehead. The connection was like static from television at first, but then the pictures in his mind finally came together.
I was in the backseat of an old car. Looking around a man was standing by the driver's side with a kid no older than ten sitting in the driver's seat. He had wires from under the dash in his small hands while the man told him what to do. Was he trying to hot wire a car?
Trying not to pry I flipped the memory like scrolling through channels till I finally found one that resembled the upside down. Dustin was sobbing over Eddie's body while Steve, Robin, and Nancy all stood around, horror written across their faces. They all had grief in their expressions while they tried to talk to Dustin, eventually having to pull away the screaming boy, who was clutching a necklace he ripped from Eddie's neck.
Standing over the body I realized he was still alive, otherwise, the memory would have stopped after he was dead. Looking around I saw dead bat creatures surrounding us, bite marks were left all over his battered body. I looked at his face, his eyes still open and staring into nothing, tears gathered in his eyes. Putting my hand on his chest, there was no heartbeat for almost two minutes, but then I felt the smallest pulse. I waited patiently watching every detail until I saw movement from one of the bats. It crawled over to Eddie's side taking another bite to his already eaten sides, but this time instead of going for the kill, it injected something purple and gooey from its saliva and into his open wounds. That's how he turned into whatever he was, some kind of virus was spreading inside of him, making him into one of them, a monster from another dimension.
I watched as his body shook around like he was having a seizure, fangs began to poke out of his mouth and a tail sprouted from his pants. The purple goo clogged the bites, not healing them, completely but stopping the bleeding. After a while I watched him wake and decided it was time to go, I figured out about his transformation, and that was all I was going to get from this memory.
Skipping ahead once more I found Eddie asleep in a bed. But then he started to raise, his wings appearing and lifting him into the air. I tried to see what he was dreaming about but once I placed my hands on his body I was flung backward and as I hit the wall behind me I slid to the floor. I tried multiple times to see what he was seeing but each time I was knocked away.
*Mikes POV*
"Guys she's been in there for almost an hour," I said getting more nervous by the minute.
"You know it takes time Mike," Nancy stated.
Yea I knew, but this was different, this was Eddie, my friend. He shouldn't have anything to hide so why was it taking so long to get information that should be easily accessible?
Suddenly El moved around in the water and grunted. I grabbed her hand and whispered that it was okay, that she was okay. But then she started thrashing around violently causing the water to splash.
"Guys! Something's wrong!" I yelled causing everyone to circle El and me.
"Wake her up!" Steve shouted.
"I tried, she's not responding," I said with worry lacing my words.
Suddenly she sat straight up gasping for air and flinging the goggles off, throwing them across the food court.
"El, hey, it's okay, calm down, we're right here," I said trying to reassure her that she was safe.
"You were right, something's happening to Eddie, and it's not just his transformation," El said with a panicked expression.
"What do you mean?" Nancy asked.
"I mean he blocked me from seeing into his thoughts, I saw what he was doing, but he wouldn't let me in his dream." She answered.
"Wait, dream? Was he floating in a bedroom?" Steve asked.
"Yes. How did you know?" El replied.
"That's because it was at my house last night." He said, shock and horror dawning on his face.
*Steve's POV*
I knew something was wrong when he rolled into a ball and wouldn't look at me after his nightmare. What happened to communication and all that bonding time we had? He told me about his other dream, so why not this one?
"We'll just have to ask him about it when he wakes up, how long does that stuff last?" I asked.
"Uh, I'm not sure, I just gave him a random dose," Robin said with a deer in headlights look.
"What! You could have killed him," Nancy shrieked.
I sighed, "So did we learn anything new about his current problem?" I asked looking over at Eleven.
She nodded and explained the whole transformation process in detail. When she finished everyone, especially Dustin, Robin, and Nancy, looked like they had seen a ghost.
"You're telling me he was alive the whole time, and we just left him there!?" I shouted pacing around the abandoned mall with my hands on my hips trying to wrap my head around it.
"It's not your fault, you couldn't have known, he wasn't breathing and his pulse was irregular," El said.
That didn't make it any better and I watched Dustin collapse to the floor. Kneeling beside him I heard him whisper, "I told his uncle he was dead, I watched him die, he was dead." I wrapped my arms around him and gave him words of encouragement, trying to get him to see it wasn't on him, on any of us.
This was Vecnas fault and he had to pay.
*Eddies POV*
I felt and saw nothing but darkness after they drugged me. After a while, a tingling sensation washed over me and the sound of a clock chiming rang in my ears. Immediately after the sound faded, Chrissy appeared in front of me looking as she did before Vecna cursed her. She smiled her perfect smile and waved at me.
"Eddie, did you decide?" She asked.
"What?" I stuttered staring into her ocean eyes.
"You need to choose before it's too late, just say yes and it'll be over soon," she said holding out her hand and grinning.
I didn't remember where I was or wondered how she was in front of me, all I knew how happy I was to see her again, so I took her outstretched arm and said, "anything for you sweetheart."
Suddenly the man in white was back and I was standing in the attic of the creel house holding his hand instead of Chrissy's.
"Have you come to realize it's all for naught. Thanks for taking the offer," He said while smiling knowingly.
No.no.no.no. I yanked my grasp away but it was too late, vines were wrapping around my wrist from his and started creeping up my arm.
"Oh, and I think you know what will happen to your friends if you tell them about us," he said as I faded away.
I woke with a scream dying in my throat. I was still in the chair from earlier and everyone was staring at me.
"Good your awake. We need to talk," Nancy said.
Looking at everyone's expressions I figured they knew everything now, "Damn straight we do, you drugged me in an abandoned building!" I yelled.
"For your own good. We needed information you couldn't remember and El was the only one who could reach it. Not so bad was it." Mike said.
I couldn't tell them about my vision so I just glared and huffed. "Whatever, what's done is done, let's just get out of here, it's giving me the creeps," I said while standing up.
"Just a second, there's something else," Nancy said and pushed me back into the chair. "We figured out your transformation, but we need to know what you dreamt about last night."
Wait for what? I wasn't sure how Els powers worked, but if she was in my head couldn't she have gotten that information? If they didn't know about the dream, then they didn't know about Vecna in my head. I needed a distraction, I would rather run than tell them Vecna was controlling me. He said he'd hurt them if I gave him away, so if I had to be a puppet to save them, so be it.
"Last night I had a nightmare about dying," I said. Wow, what a lame excuse, I already told Steve about that nightmare, but maybe he'd believe me.
Looking around I caught some people who looked convinced but others who didn't.
"That won't cut it, Eleven was pushed back more than once trying to see your dream," Nancy said.
"No duh, do you think I want people seeing me die in my point of view? It was terrifying and-and," I couldn't go on, thinking about it made me sick.
I suppose the act, that wasn't really an act, was convincing because everyone but Nancy seemed to agree.
"Don't think for a moment that's what I think happened, you're not telling us something and my gut is never wrong, and neither is the feeling Will gets," Nancy growled.
"Whoa nance I think he's clear, can you imagine the pain he went through, what he's still going through, anyone would have nightmares after that," Johnathan said to her.
"Who's side are you on Byers?" Nancy spat.
I looked between them, "seems like someone's having relationship problems," I said with a smirk.
Nancy just glared at me while Johnathan looked like a sad puppy. I finally hit a nerve and that was my cue to get out of here before any more questions could be asked. I grabbed Steve's arm and said, "let's hit the road, I'm starving and it doesn't look like they're selling food here anymore."
So as Steve and I walked out the door with everyone's eyes boring into our backs I flipped the bird and slammed the door causing the glass to shatter completely. It was mostly directed at Nancy, so I felt bad if anyone thought it was for them.
*Steves POV*
As soon as the car doors shut I looked over at Eddie and demanded what the hell just happened.
"You tell me, you take me to an abandoned building, drug me, and after I wake up accuse me of something I can't control!" He yelled.
Fair enough, "I admit the drugging part was not my idea, but we needed to know what happened to you," I said.
"Yea, what happened to me, huh? All everyone seemed worried about was my stupid nightmare just because a little girl couldn't get into my trauma." He shouted at me.
I sighed and changed the topic, telling him how he was turned into whatever he was and how it all made sense that I wasn't a vampire because some monsters ooze wasn't mixed into me. He stared at me and then looked out the window his head resting against the glass.
"Start the car Harrington," he said in a flat tone.
I did and we drove back to my place without any words spoken between us.
*Wills POV*
The feeling was stronger than ever once Eddie woke up. This time I avoided rubbing my neck, he seemed to have enough problems going on, and I didn't want to accuse him of more. I didn't even want anyone to know I felt the flare on Eddie, but now that everyone knew they were suspicious of him. Even more so when he blocked El from seeing a dream.
But he seemed genuinely scared and traumatized when he said it was about his bat experience, so mostly everyone dropped it except Nancy.
Nancy and Johnathan soon broke into a fight after Steve and Eddie left and Robin took that as a sign to leave. The guys, Eleven, and I left the building and biked to mikes, using the walkie to tell Lucus to meet us there to discuss a theory.
On the way I couldn't hold back my tears, not seeing where I was peddling I tripped over a curb and flipped over onto the pavement. Everyone skidded to a stop and Mike asked if I was hurt. I just sat there staring at a pebble and shook my head.
"Hey what's up? Why are you crying?" Dustin asked, worry creeping into his voice as he leaned down next to me.
"It's Eddie," was all I said as I pushed Dustin away and hopped back onto my bike, peddling as fast as I could to Mikes. If I was going to explain I wanted us to be behind closed doors and with Lucus. They all yelled at me to stop as they peddled after me, but I just kept going faster, willing myself to get to Mike's house as quick as possible.
As soon as I peeled into the driveway I slammed my bike down and ran inside. I heard Mike's mom say hello, but I blew past her and straight into the basement where Lucus was already waiting on the couch. He looked up and once he saw my tears he opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of footsteps thundering down the stairs stopped him.
"Dude! You can't just drop a bomb like that and run, explain now," Mike demanded.
"Everyone, just sit down and listen. No talking till I'm finished," I sniffled out.
I explained the feeling I got around Eddie and how it got worse after Eleven did her mind trick. I told them how I thought he was being controlled, not as a host, but something was leaching off of him. When I finished everyone stared at me in shock.
Mike spoke up first, "why didn't you tell us that back at the mall when we had him surrounded? We could have helped him!" He yelled.
"No. Nancy would have shot him if she had brought a gun. And like I said he's not a host, I'm not sure what he is." I explained.
They shook their heads in disbelief and El said, "Mike is right, we should have forced him to stay so we could push more questions, now he is gone."
"He has so much on his plate right now, and I can relate to him. Besides it's not his fault that he was mutated into a monster. I don't think he's a threat, he just needs time, and us to be his friends." I said trying to convince them.
"I agree with Will. It's still Eddie. He's still the guy we knew from hellfire," Dustin said with determination.
"I'm a little confused, but Eddie's a good guy, and I wasn't there for him for a while. I'm taking Will's side," Lucus said.
Mike sighed and eventually he and El agreed. If we had to save Eddie, we were going to do so as friends.