CHAPTER FOURTY-TWO
( vecna/henry/one )
THE next morning came and Nancy was ready to talk about what she saw during her encounter with Vecna. They all gathered around in Luna and Max's living room, some of them were sitting on the couch, some were on the floor, and the others were standing, feeling too antsy and nervous to sit still. Luna was standing, the urge to pace holes into the carpet floors was strong, but for the most part, she was keeping herself together.
"He showed me things that haven't happened yet." Nancy told them, her voice hoarse and shaky as she recalls the memories. "The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this... giant creature with a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then... he showed me my mom. And Holly. Mike. And they... they were all..." Her voice breaks as she glances down, falling silent as a silent sob leaves her lips.
Luna's heart ached for the Wheeler girl who was trembling in the chair with her arms wrapped around herself, making herself look smaller than she was. For as long as she knew her, Nancy had always been strong, and to see her like this broke her heart. She couldn't imagine what it was like to not only face the monster that was causing all of this chaos, but to see such horrible things because of him.
Things that he said himself was going to come to pass.
"Okay, but... he's just trying to scare you , Nance." Steve attempted to assure her, lifting his head up. "Right? I mean... it's not real."
Nancy looked up from her lap, "Not yet." She whispered, "But there... there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie's trailer, but... they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home."
"Four chimes." Max chipped in beside Luna, earning everyone's attention. "Vecna's clock. It always chimes for times. Four exactly."
"I heard them too." Nancy replied.
Max shakes her head, a look of realization etched deep in her features. "He's been telling us his plan the whole time."
"Four kills." Lucas said quietly, his gaze moving to land on Max. "Four gates. End of the world."
"If that's true... he's only one kill away." Dustin relayed.
Eddie panics on the couch, dropping his head into his hands. "Oh Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ."
"Try 'em again." Steve tells Max, referring to the phone. "Try 'em again."
Max and Luna walk back over to the phone, her sister pulls it off of the hook and her fingers punch the number of the Byers home in California for the hundredth time that day. Just like before, the phone rang until the signal drones.
Luna runs a hand through her hair, "Still nothing, Vic."
"Rang a few times, then went to busy signal." Max told him as she hung up the phone.
"Maybe you punched it in wrong." Steve suggested.
Max shot him a bitch face, "I didn't punch it in wrong."
"Well, I don't know." Steve sighs in exhaustion.
"I think she knows how to use a phone." Dustin comments.
"I'm just saying, she could've typed it in wrong." Steve responded.
"Let me try." Luna told Max, her sister stepped back and let her grab the phone. She punched in the correct numbers slowly, making sure to get every one before putting the phone to her ear. After a few rings the signal drones again, she huffs and placed the phone back. "Nope. Still nothing."
"Same shit." Max folds her arms over her chest as they walked back to the group in the living room.
"How is that possible?" Lucas asked in disbelief.
"I told you." Dustin looks at Lucas, "Joyce has this telemarketer job. She's always on the phone. Mike won't stop whining about it."
"Yeah, but this phone's been busy for, what, three days now? That's not Joyce." Max shook her head, "No way. Something's wrong."
"She's right." Nancy agreed, "It can't be just coincidence. It can't be." She gets to her feet from the chair and walks to the window, "Whatever's happening in Lenora is connected to all of this. I'm sure of it. But Vecna can't hurt them. Not if he's dead." She turns back to the group, a determined expression covering her face. "We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down."
Luna's eyes grow big, "No, you guys are not going back there."
"Whoa, no, no, no." Steve instantly said, "What?"
"Nope." Eddie shakes his head, waving a hand in decline. "Nope."
Steve gets up from the couch, "Let's think this through."
"What is there to think through?" Nancy asked him.
"We barely made it out of there in one piece." Steve informed her.
"Steve almost died in that place, Nance." Luna stands her ground, "I had to give him stitches!"
"Yeah, because we weren't prepared." Nancy tried to reason, "But this time, we will be. We'll get weapons and protection. We'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him."
"Or he'll kill us." Steve argues with her, "The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. He's not scared of us."
"And for good reason." Robin jumps in as she stands from her seat on the ground. "We were wrong about Vecna." Her face twists in confusion, "Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now?"
"One."
"Vecna."
"Henry."
"Right." Robin blinks hard, none of the answers thrown out being helpful. "We learned something new about Henry/Vecna/One. He's a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin. But m-my point is, he's super powerful. He could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It's not a fair fight."
"Then why fight fair?" Dustin raised the question, "You're right. He's like Eleven. But that gives us an upper hand. We knows Eleven's strengths. And weaknesses."
Erica shot him an incredulous look, "Weaknesses?"
"When El remote-travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna." Dustin explained.
"That would explain what he was doing in that attic." Lucas brings up.
Dustin pointed to him, "Exactly. When he attacks his next victim, I'll bet you he's back in that attic, physical body defenseless."
"May I remind you guys that Steve didn't even get attacked by Vecna personally but still somehow almost got himself killed?"
"Yeah, the army of bats." Steve gestured to the bruised ring around his neck with his hands.
"Righ, true." Dustin nods, "We'll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow."
Eddie goes to get up, "And, uh, how do we that, exactly?"
"No idea." Dustin answers, Eddie pursed his lips and sat back down. "But once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance. It'll be like slaying a sleeping Dracula in his coffin."
Luna's brows knit, "We have been talking about vampires alot lately. Am I missing something?" Dustin simply waves her off, and she rolls her eyes at him.
"That all sounds good in theory, but there is no pattern to Vecna's killing." Robin reminds them, "I mean, not one that I can decipher. We don't know when he's going to attack next. We don't even know who he's going to attack."
"Yeah, we do." Max uttered, leaning against the threshold. "I can still feel him. I'm still... marked. Cursed." Luna can feel her heart sinking in her chest as she speaks, she doesn't like where this is going at all. "I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me."
"Max." Lucas warned, "You can't."
Luna nods, "He's right, you can't do this again. He-He almost killed you." She gulps as a flicker of an image crossed her mind, her sister's body hung in the air. "You almost died."
"I survived before." Max tells the both of them both earnestly, her gaze switching between both Luna and Lucas. "I can survive again. I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off. Stab him in the heart. Blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up. I honestly don't care how you put this asshole in his grave. Just... whatever it is... whatever you do... try not to miss."
An overwhelming sense of dread washed over Luna, and she felt like she couldn't stand on her own two feet. Her heart was racing in her chest, it felt like it was going to burst right out of her skin. Her chest felt tight, and she felt like she could barely breathe. She knew it was coming, the panic attack that had been at bay the past couple days, she knew it would happen eventually, she just didn't know when.
The voices in the room were muffled in her ears, as if her head had been dunked under water, and everything around began to blur. She had to get out of there, fast. She stumbled out of the room, her hand bracing on the wall of the narrow hallway as she struggled to get to her bedroom.
Luckily, before her knees buckled Steve was quick to grab her and lead her into the room. She landed on the hardwoods of her floor against the wall, her chest was rising up and down heavily and her legs were splayed out infront of her as she trembled and failed to breathe in and out properly.
For about two minutes she couldn't focus on anything, other than the painful incessant pounding in her chest that echoed in her ears. But then, she heard Steve's voice talking to her. Her boyfriend's voice, the boy that she loved.
He was calling out her name, pleading to her, trying desperately to get her to listen to him. And she wanted to listen, she wanted to talk and tell him that she was okay and that he didn't have to worry. But she knew that she couldn't do that, and not just because she couldn't breathe, but because she couldn't tell him that.
She was not okay, nothing was okay. Her sister almost died right infront of her a couple days ago, and she wanted to take the chance again just to get some fucking sick psycho's attention for the small chance of killing him. She was so scared that her sister wouldn't be able to survive again, that this could very well be it for her. Besides her mom, Max was the only family that she had.
And if she lost Max, she wouldn't be able to recover.
The panic attack that she had today was probably her worse one yet. It took her about ten minutes before she came back to earth and listened to Steve's voice, she mimicked his steady and easy breathing, and she broke down in his arms and cried till her throat hurt. All the while he held her safe and comfortably in his arms, whispering reassuring things in her ear as she clutched and held onto him for dear life.
Right now, everything around her felt like it was crumbling down, and Steve was the only thing that kept her from losing her sanity. He was her anchor, and she had never been more thankful to have such a gold heartedly beautiful boy in her life.
"I don't know what I would do without you here, Vic." She whispered to him, softly.
"Me too, Moon." Steve's strong arms tightened around her, and he drops a soft kiss on her temples. "I'd be losing my mind if I didn't have you here with me."
"I'm scared, Steve." She admits to him, "I don't want to lose my sister."
"I know, baby." He sighs softly, "But you know Max. If she wants to do something, she's not going to let anyone stop her. This is ultimately up to her. You just have to trust that she knows what she's doing."
"I know, but I just..." She released a heavy sigh as she tucked her face into his chest, "She's all I have."
"I know, Luna." Steve replied softly, "But she'll be okay. And to make sure that nothing happens, you can go with her to Creel House. You and Lucas, and Erica. She can distract Vecna and somehow we'll distract the bats, and then... if she starts to float, just place the headphones over her head and blast Kate Bush. She'll come right back down like she did at the cemetery." He looks down at her, "There will be nothing to worry about, okay?"
Luna looks up, and they meet eyes. "Okay." She nods her head slowly, "Okay. I'll be there and make sure that she's okay. And I'll get her out of there as soon as she begins to float."
"Good." Steve smiles softly, then he leans down and gently pecks her lips. Her cheeks flush red as they both pull back, staring into eachother's eyes. "Everything will be okay. We've beaten the Upside Down and the monsters that comes with it before. And we'll do it again."
Luna nods, feeling a little bit more confident. "Yeah, we will."
"Now, do you think we should get back to the others now?" Steve asked her, raising his brows in question.
"Yeah." Luna nods, "Come on."
The both of them leave her room and head down the hallway back to the living room, when Luna walks back into the room she's instantly tackled by her sister. For a moment or two she's shocked at the very unexpected embrace, but then she leans down a bit and wraps her arms around her.
"I'm sorry if I made you upset." Max apologizes, making Luna's heart squeeze in her chest. "I just want to help kill Vecna in any way I can."
Luna shakes her head as she pulls back, putting her hands on her sister's shoulders. "It's fine, Max. It just scared me a little bit, but I know everything is going to be fine. I'm gonna be there with you, just like I was the first time. But this time, I'm gonna know what to do." She looks her sister deep in her blue eyes, "That sick bastard isn't gonna be able to get his hands on you, okay? I'll make sure of it."
"Hey, Nara." Robin called to her, grabbing her attention. "Eddie said he found something." She nods her head and both herself and Max make their way over to the group.
They're all standing around the dining room table with Eddie in the middle, there's a page from the newspaper he has open. There looks to be a soldier on the page with a giant gun in his hands, and of course there's an America flag waving behind him. Typical.
"Check this out." Eddie tells them, "The War Zone. I've been there once. It's huge. They got everything you need for, uh... well uh, killing things, basically."
"You think fake Rambo has enough guns there?" Robin questioned, referring to the soldier on the page. And now that Luna looks a bit closer, he does kind of look like a knock off Rambo. "Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this stuff legal?"
Luna snorted, "You even have to ask, this is America."
"And well, lucky for us it is, so..." Eddie responded in a bitter and sarcastic tone. "T-This place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of the main roads, we oughta be able to avoid cops and, uh, angry hicks."
"If we're trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn't go to some store called the War Zone." Erica remarked.
"Normally, I'd agree, but we need the weapons. So, I think it's worth the risk." Nancy responded.
"Me too." Lucas agreed.
"Yeah, but is it worth the time?" Dustin questioned, "It'll take all day to bike there and back."
"Who said anything about bikes?" Eddie asked.
Steve shoots him a curious glance, "You got some sort of car we don't know about?"
"Well, it's not exactly a car, Steve." Eddie tells him, "And it's not exactly mine but, uh... It'll do." A small grin grows on the boy's lips, then he turns to look at Max and Luna. "Hey, Red and Little Red, uh, either of guys got a ski mask or bandanna, something like that?"
Luna and Max share a knowing glance, they both are thinking the same thing.
They head to Max's room and they both rustle through her bedroom, though it's not technically what Eddie had in mind to hide his face from being seen, to them it was the best and most hilarious option. And that is how Eddie ended up leading the group through the trailer park with a Michael Myers mask over his face, the very same one that Max wore for Halloween when they moved to Hawkins.
After successfully getting to the Winnebago that Eddie told them about without being seen, the group climbed through the opened window and snuck into the home on wheels. Luna felt a little bad in the moment, it was someone's house after all, but they needed to get to The War Zone somehow, and this was the only plan that they had.
And plus, when they save the world again, it'll all be worth it anyway.
Once she was inside of the van she rushed towards the front seat, she stood next to Steve who was watching Eddie hot wire the car. Because yeah, sure, not only was he super good with kids, a D&D game master, but he could also hotwire a godamn car.
He was so fucking cool, what couldn't Eddie Munson fucking do?
"Where'd you learn how to do this?" Steve asked him.
"Well, when the other dads were teaching their kids how to fish or play ball, my old man was teaching me how to hot-wire." Eddie replied hastily, keeping his focus as he snipped the wires with the pliers in his hand. "Now, I swore to myself that I wouldn't wind up like he did, but now I'm wanted for murder, and soon, grand theft auto. So, uh, I'm really living up to that Munson name."
Luna could relate to Eddie, what with the whole father thing and his dad teaching him things that's weren't typically normal or morally right for a father to teach his son. Because while other little girls were making their fathers drag them to the mall to shop and and get their nails done, she was being taught how to shoot a bow and arrow, pick locks, and other roguish techniques she and Max had picked up from their father.
Robin rushed up next to her and Steve, "Eddie, I'm not sure I love the idea of you driving."
"Oh, I'm just starting this sucker." He plastered a cheeky grin on his face, "Harrington's got her." He leans back, getting in Steve's face a bit. "Don't you, big boy?"
Luna grins teasingly, "Ooh, I smell a bromance."
Steve rolls his eyes, "Shut up, Moon."
"Nah, he's all yours, Red." Eddie chuckles, then he goes back to the wires and connects them. The van's engine roared to life and angry voices from the outside the windows of the Winnebago catch their attention.
"Open this door!"
"Hey!"
"That's your cue, babe." Luna says quickly to Steve, "Up and at 'em, Eddie!" She drops herself into the seat beside Steve, and Robin and Eddie rush towards to the back with Nancy and the kids. "Guys, get ready for a bumpy ride!"
"Everybody hang onto something!" Steve shouts back at them.
"Oh my god!" Lucas screams, "Let's go! Let's go!"
"Drive, Steve!" Dustin shouted at him, "Drive!"
Luna turned to him, "Go, babe!"
"Go! Go! Go!" Robin rushed him.
Steve put the Winnebago into gear and he stomped on the accelerator, it was as she said a very bumpy ride as they speed through the middle of the trailer park which had terrible terrain considering it was all just gravel and rocks on the ground, not very good for high speed escapes.
When they made it out of the trailer park, leaving the couple screaming behind them as they get away with their Winnebago, she let's out a sigh of relief as Steve steadied his speed on the narrow two laned road.
Phase one of getting a means of transportation was comeplete. All they had to do was get to The War Zone and get the weapons that they needed for the final battle.
And now, Phase two was underway.
—micaela speaks
Hey guys, my writers block has been really kicking my ass, but I got this chapter done for you guys. I think it's pretty good chapter tbh.
And yes, Luna ships Steve and Eddie, of course she fucking does.
If you didn't know this already, hello, hi, I am a steddie truther. I believe those two would've and should've gotten together if it weren't for the duffer bros and their terrible and tasteless decision to kill off Eddie.
I really believe Eddie should be able to come back as Kas the Bloody Handed but I don't really think that will happen, and I will definitely be reluctantly winning $100 with a bet with my mom.
She believes he'll be back because that's what tv show writers do, kill a character just to make the audience upset, and then bring them back. But idk... I'm not so sure.
So, I feel like I'm about to be $100 richer (i'm not rich by any means) but i'll definitely be sad about it.
We'll see.
Anyway, I've said too much, lmaooo. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you in the next one.