EDDIE'S POV
I WAS WATCHING NANCY patch Steve up when I realized Cassie never came back. "Hey, Cassie, you alright?" I shouted, but there was no response.
"Where'd she go?" Steve asked, grunting from the pain.
"She's right over here." I peered the corner of the rock where she stood with her back to me. "Cassie." I touched her shoulder, but she was still. "Cassie?" When I stood in front of her, her eyes looked the same as Chrissy's had. "Holy shit, guys! Get over here."
They all came scrambling over. "What's wrong?"
"Vecna's got her." I shook her shoulders. "Cassie! Can you hear me?"
"Her song, what's her favorite song?" Robin asked.
"Screw that, we don't have any music." I placed my hands on my head in frustration. "Shit, shit, shit, this can't happen."
"Cass! Cassie!" Steve shouted in her face.
"It's not gonna work, dude." I pointed out.
"Yea well we gotta try something." He shouted back.
"Wait." Nancy dug around in her bag and pulled out a walkman. "I knew I brought it with me. Any chance one of you know her favorite song?" She rushed her words.
"That Hey Dude song from The Beatles!"
Nancy kneeled on the ground and dumped her bag out, searching until she found it. "Thank god it's one of their popular songs." She instantly popped it in and put the headphones on Cassie.
"How long does this take?" I fiddled with my rings.
"It should be working." Steve said, confused. "Nancy, why isn't it working?"
⭒
"This isn't real, is it?"
"Are you that stupid?" Jason's voice was completely distorted at this point, replaced by a deep bounding one instead. Jason moved closer and I took that as my cue to take off running.
I could hear him following close behind me, but when I glanced behind me, I let out a scream. Instead of Jason, there was a big monster looking thing who could only be Vecna.
"You can't run for long."
⭒
"Why isn't it working?" I yelled.
"This doesn't make any sense. She specifically told you her favorite song is Hey Jude?"
"Yes!" I shouted again.
"Then she should be snapping out of it! It must not be her favorite song anymore."
"Wait." I had a thought. I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out Master of Puppets. "Hoping for a miracle here." I replaced the cassette with that one and pressed play.
⭒
"Cassie! You there?" I heard Eddie's voice and snapped my head to see an opening that led back to them.
"Not this time." I felt myself being lifted off of the ground as one of Vecna's arms wrapped around my neck.
"Cass! Let her go you son of a bitch!"
⭒
"This doesn't make any goddamn sense!" I yelled, staring at Cassie's floating body. "Let her go you asshole!"
"Cass! Fight him! You can do it, we believe in you!" Robin yelled.
⭒
CASSIE'S POV
I struggled against his grip, hearing Master of Puppets playing. "Let me go."
"You deserve this, Cassie."
"I can't lose you, Cassie." I heard Eddie say, which gave me enough courage to knee Vecna in the stomach, but he didn't budge.
"You think it's that easy, huh?" I remembered what Max told me she did to get away from him, and copied her. Ripping part of his neck, he let go in pain.
I scrambled to my feet and started running to my friends. I had to dodge falling rocks left and right, fighting for my life. "You will never be good enough, Cassie."
I finally made it to the opening, jumping through it. I felt myself fall to the ground, immediately being wrapped up in someone's arms. "Holy shit." Steve let himself fall to the ground on his knees, clutching his chest. Nancy and Robin stared at me in shock and relief. I could feel Eddie's heart pounding against my back as he held me tight.
"What was- I mean how did..." Robin couldn't find the words.
"Never do that again." Eddie's voice came out as barely a whisper.
"Why didn't you tell us? That Vecna cursed you?" Nancy had her arms crossed with a confused look on her face.
"I just... I didn't know if that's what it was. Um, the visions, I thought it was just, like, me being paranoid or something? And there was always a reason for the headaches or nose bleeds. I kinda suspected it though, when we were at Viktor's house, I heard the clock. But I thought maybe I was just hearing things, psyching myself out."
"You can't do that, Cassie!" Steve stood up with a mad look on his face. "You could've died."
"I'm sorry." I whispered, a tear slipping from my face. Honestly, if it had been a few days earlier, I wouldn't have cared if I died.
"Okay, that's not what matters now. She's alive. We just have to keep it that way, and luckily for you, we now know your favorite song." Nancy sighed.
"Which for some reason is a Metallica song." Robin scrunched her nose and I heard Eddie stifle a laugh from behind me.
"Okay, we gotta go, guys. And make sure you keep those headphones close." Nancy pointed at me before walking.
"Where are we going?" I asked Eddie as he helped me up.
"Nancy's bedroom. Wheeler has guns."
"Oh, hey, yo. So Steve gets the jacket, but I don't?" I pointed to Steve who was wearing Eddie's vest jean jacket.
"What, you jealous?" He grabbed my hand.
"Um, yes."
"It's a good thing I only have eyes for you." He kissed my hand, making me smile.
"Eddie, hey man." Steve walked over to us, glancing down at our hands. "Listen, I just, uh, I just wanna say thanks. For saving my ass back there."
"Uh, hello, I was there too. What, just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can be a hero?"
"You're always putting words into my mouth." Steve rolled his eyes.
"Listen, man." Eddie chuckled at our bickering. "You saved your own ass. I mean, that was a real Ozzy move you pulled back there."
"Ozzy?"
"When you took a bite out of that bat." Steve still looked clueless. "Ozzy Osbourne? Black Sabbath? He bit a bats head off onstage."
"Yea, Eddie, I don't think he gets it." I gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"No? Well, it's very metal, what you did. That's all I'm saying."
"Okay, you two are boring me." I walked ahead of them, but I tuned back in on their conversation when Eddie said he's not a hero and runs whenever there's conflict. He then said he only dove in the water because the rest of us girls did and he didn't want to be the only one to stay behind.
I heard the two of them stop walking. "What are you two doing?" I stopped, looking behind me.
"Oh, we're just-" Steve's words were cut short when the ground started shaking. Eddie rushed over to me and caught me before I fell.
"Second on my list of least favorite things, earthquakes. Seriously, I'm unsteady enough as it is." Robin climbed a small hill, following Nancy.
"Woah, where is she going?" My eyes followed Nancy who started running ahead of us as the earthquake carried on.
"Guess we better find out." Steve took off running, the three of us following until we found Nancy a few feet away, standing still and staring at something in the distance.
"What're you-" Her house stood in the open, looking abandoned and run down, surrounded by massive dead trees. Red lightning only intensifying the view.
"Let's go."
⭒ ⭒ ⭒
We walked in through the front door, everything looked to be where it was in our world, except covered in vines and goop. "Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler."
"Come on. I don't want to stay here longer than we have to." Nancy looked anxious, and I couldn't blame her.
We started walking up the stairs, but I stopped, turning around. "Woah." Steve ran into me. "What's up?"
"Is it just me or do you hear a younger, nerdier, more boyish version of me?" I didn't take my eyes off of the spot where the voices were coming from.
"Dustin?"
"No, Einstein." I said sarcastically. "Yes, Dustin." The others had already made their way upstairs, it was just Steve and I. "You don't think we could actually communicate with them from here, do you?" I walked past him, back down the stairs.
"Well, we've kinda done it before." I shot him a confused look.
"Right, this isn't your first time. Still not completely used to that. So, how'd you communicate before? I mean, we can hear him, but can he hear us? Dustin!" I shouted, only causing Steve to put his hand over my mouth.
"What are you trying to do, attract a mob of Demo-bats?" He was close to my face, his hand still on my mouth.
"Get your hand off my mouth." I tried to say, but it came out mumbled.
"What?" I smacked his hand away. "Ow."
"You just got almost eaten alive by bats and you say ow to that?" I rolled my eyes. "Like I was trying to say while your hand was covering my mouth, how do you know the bats are attracted to sound?"
"Well if it's your..." He looked like he was about to say something, but he changed his mind.
"What?" I had my hands on my hips.
"Never mind." He walked ahead of me, trying to find out where the voices were coming from.
"No, what were you gonna say?" I grabbed his arm, turning him around.
"Look, I don't wanna get mixed up in your drama."
"My drama?" My mouth slightly hung open. "What does that mean?"
"Not drama, I just- I don't know how to word it."
"Just say it, Steve." He looked at me with... hope?
"Dustin!" He yelled, turning around and screaming at the ceiling.
"Very mature."
"Dustin! Can you hear me?"
"Maybe he really does have rabies?"
"Jesus, Robin!" I spun around, clutching my heart. "Give a girl a warning next time."
"What's he doing?"
"Henderson, the little shit, he's like in the walls or something." Steve breathed, walking over to us.
"He's not in the walls, dipshit. We can hear him."
"Yea, yea, shut up and let them listen."
"That brings us to the question you first asked."
"Holy shit. That's Henderson." Eddie smiled, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
"Yea, but I wouldn't get too excited. It doesn't seem like he can hear us." Despite what I'd just said, the four of them continued to yell for him. "Is this thing on?" I tapped on my mouth as if it were a microphone.
"Will found a way. Through the lights." Nancy walked over to the lamps trying to turn it on, but nothing happened.
"Guys, you seeing this?" Steve pointed his flashlight at the lamp which was glowing, sort of sparkling.
"Woah." I stuck my hand near it and it glowed even more. Everyone followed my lead.
"It tickles."
"Does anyone know morse code?"
"Eddie? Kinda counting on you, if any of us knew it it'd be you." He gave me a look of disappointment before furrowing his eyebrows.
"Wait, does SOS count?" I shot him a smile but he still looked confused. "Is that... is that good?"
"That's perfect." He smiled back at me before signaling SOS using his hand and the light.
"It's working."
"Litebrite!" Dustin's voice spoke.
"What did he say?" I looked around, wondering if the others caught it. Nancy looked like she was in deep thought.
"Litebrite! But how's that gonna help us?"
"Nancy, go to your room! We're gonna try something."She took off running and we followed her.
"What exactly are we doing?" We kneeled down in front of Nancy's bed.
"Hopefully communicating." Nancy answered, staring at the bed.
"Okay, the litebrite's set up, you guys seeing this?" I heard Dustin's voice shout. Nancy stuck her hand out above the bed and it lit up just like the lamp. "We're not moving it, but we're gonna unplug it. Stand by." The light disappeared. "Okay, try it now."
"Okay, um..." Nancy stuck her finger out, spelling out hi.
"Hi! That worked!"
"Oh thank god." Eddie took my hand, squeezing it.
"Yes, hi!"
"Okay, okay." She spelled out stuck.
"You can't get back through water gate?
"Do you want us to get eaten alive by bats, Dustin?" I sighed, stressed.
"Okay, that's too long to spell out." Steve said, annoyed.
"Stop. Okay, no. It's..." She spelled out guarded.
"We think we have a theory that could help with that."
"Genius child." Robin mumbled.
"Alright, tone it down a bit. He's just a nerd that does his research." Eddie looked at me with a blank stare. "Oh, sorry Eds."
"We think watergate isn't the only gate. That there's a gate at every murder site."
"Does anybody understand what he's talking about?"
"Sensing it has something to do with Eddie's trailer."
"Okay, okay how far is that?" Nancy turned to Eddie.
"Seven miles."
"Nancy? I know your house here is like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven't you always had bikes?"
"Robin, you're a genius, I could kiss you." I smiled.
"Let's not." Eddie shook his head, standing up and offering me his hand.
"Right, but we only have four." Nancy pointed out.
"Don't worry about it. Sweets will ride on the back of mine." He nodded to me.
"Okay, but if you crash I will never forgive you." We all got on the bikes and made our way to the trailer park.
"That's gotta be a Guinness World Record. Most miles traveled interdimensionally." Robin huffed, laying her bike down.
"I just inhaled a bunch of that crap." Steve coughed. "It's stuck in my throat."
"Ew, dude. You literally just coughed in my hair." I swiped through my hair as we walked toward Eddie's trailer.
"I'm sorry but if you don't think your hair is already infested with this shit, you have another thing coming for you."
"Can you two stop arguing like a married couple?" Robin interjected, opening the door to the trailer.
"Goddamn." There was a big red glowing spot in the ceiling.
"This is where Chrissy died. Like, right where she died."
"I think there's something in there."
"Oh my god, please tell me this is just some Scooby-Doo shit and Vecna is just like, one of the many girls who's heart Steve broke and they want revenge." I received looks from all four of them.
"I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but that ain't a silly string booby trap." He pointed to the spot on the ceiling that was covered with weird string like material.
"Yea, but what is that?" We all screamed as something broke through it, causing a hole.
"Oh, it's just my brother. Well that was anticlimactic."
"Oh, right, let's just ignore the fact that he's upside down." Steve shrugged.
"I just saved your asses and you're whining that it wasn't climatic enough?" Dustin crossed his arms.
"Hey, we aren't saved yet. Get us through this hole, and then I'll thank you. Wow, that's something I never thought I'd say to my brother."
"I don't know about you guys, but I feel like I just smoked two joints." Robin smiled.
"Okay, we're just gonna try and find a way to get you guys down... up here?" Dustin said before him, Lucas, Max and Erica disappeared from our sight. Lucas and Erica appeared a minute later, placing a stain covered mattress down on the floor.
"Those stains are, uh... I don't know what those stains are." Eddie avoided eye contact.
"Good thing that's the least of our concerns right now." I patted his shoulder.
"Not quite sure how these physics are gonna work." Dustin walked back into our view with a tied up sheet in his hand. "Here goes nothing." He threw one end up to us and the other end stayed on his side. "If my theory is correct..." He left go of it and it stayed perfectly even.
"Wow. That's strangely not the weirdest thing I've seen." Nancy shrugged.
"Alright, pull on it! See if it holds." Robin pulled and it didn't budge.
"Guess I'm the guinea pig." Robin climbed up the rope but once she passed the hole, she fell down onto the mattress.
"Hell yea, my turn!" I jumped up and down, smiling.
"M'lady." Eddie laughed, motioning for me to climb the rope. "I'll catch you if you fall."
"Just in case I cross over into some bat shit crazy dimension..." I hesitated, glancing down at his lips, I saw a slight smirk cross his face. Ignoring the eyes on us, I leaned in and connected my lips with his before pulling apart. "I'll see you on the other side."
"Shit, I set up Bonnie and Clyde." I heard Dustin mutter.
"What did..." Steve mumbled as I started climbing the rope.
"Well , I don't know about you two, but I'm enjoying the view." I could hear the smirk in Eddie's voice.
"I bet you are." I reached the hole and fell forward, landing on the mattress. "Wait, can I do it again? Or is it like a one way in, one way out sort of deal?" Lucas rolled his eyes at me, helping me up. I looked back up at Nancy, Steve and Eddie to see the three of them looking around at each other.
"Okay, I'll go next." Eddie started climbing the rope, falling down. "That was fun."
"Dude, you'd make the perfect theme park buddy." I smiled, helping him up.
"Number one thing to do on our bucket list after this." He high fived me. "Alright, Nance, your turn."
"Nancy." Steve shook her shoulder but she didn't answer.
"Shit, you don't think..."
"Vecna." Max answered for me.
"Wait, here, take the walkman and the headphones!" I yelled up to Steve, about to throw them up to him.
"Fuck that, it's too risky. You have to keep them on you." Eddie interjected.
"What about Nancy?"
"It wouldn't work anyway. It's useless, we don't have her favorite song on cassette." Steve shouted, continuously shaking her.
"This doesn't make any sense. She didn't have any symptoms, did she?" Everyone shook their head. "So what, now he can just take anyone? That's bullshit."
"We've gotta try something!"