~Beth POV~
Two days had passed since the worst day of my existence. I had stayed at Nancy's for the last two days because my mom nor El were back and I didn't want to be alone after losing Eddie. Max and Lucas explained what happened to Imogen. Vecna was in the process of taking her but something stopped him which must of also been connected to the vines releasing us at the house. Max said Imogen died in her arms, legally, for over a minute but somehow, her heart began to beat again and that's when the ambulance came. Steve hadn't left Imogen's side at the hospital the whole time. She was alive but she was completely unresponsive and left in a coma. Dustin was completely destroyed inside over Imogen's state and also the death of Eddie. He was extremely strong and kept things together.
The town was in jeopardy as peoples homes had been destroyed due to the 'earthquake' as the news were calling it. People were having to take refuge in the hospitals and also at the school. Nancy, Robin, Dustin, Max, Lucas and I had decided we were going to donate a load of old stuff to the families that were in need. But first, I had decided it was time to face and return Eddie's van to his uncle, Wayne Munson. Dustin was kind enough to offer to go with me because I honestly didn't think I could face him by myself.
I had never properly drove a van before, let alone a car, but I knew the gist of the controls from me watching Eddie and sometimes him letting me park. Dustin hopped into the front seat next to me. He looked over at me a sighed.
"Okay?" I asked him, looking at his necklace. He was wearing the guitar pic necklace that Eddie always wore.
"Hanging in there. You?" Dustin replied, looking down at my ring.
"Hanging in there." I replied with a weak smile.
"Are you sure you can do this?" Dustin asked me.
"Uh, I've watched Eddie drive before and he's let me park it before so I should be okay if I drive slow."
"No, I meant facing his uncle?"
"Oh...yeah...I mean...we have to, right?" I asked. Dustin gave a quick, small smile and nodded his head. I nodded back before turning the key in the ignition.
We made it to the trailer park after a very slow and careful drive. There was no way for drivers to zoom around town anyway with so much destruction. Straight ahead of us was Eddie's trailed and there, outside on a bench, I spotted Wayne Munson, having a cigarette and putting his boots on. He looked up spotted the van. I took a deep inhale and exhale and then exited the van with Dustin.
"Beth?" questioned Wayne.
"Hi, Mr Munson." I said, feeling extremely nervous and fighting the urge to cry.
"What you doing with Eddie's van? Where's Eddie?" he asked. I spotted a pile of missing person posters he had on the bench next to him. It seemed he was about to head to town to put these up which made my heart shatter. I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out, so Dustin stepped in for me.
"Hi, Mr Munson, I'm Dustin. Dustin Henderson." he started.
"Hello, listen I'm glad you kids are okay but if you're not with Eddie then I need to go find him." Wayne said.
"I was with him!" Dustin blurted out before Wayne could move. "I was with him when the earthquake hit." Wayne stood there for a minute and studied the expressions on our faces.
"And where is Eddie now?" he asked. The question broke me as I felt a tear fall from my eye and Dustin's lip began to quiver. From our reactions, Wayne already knew. Dustin reached around his neck and took off Eddie's guitar pic necklace and handed it to Wayne. Wayne took a hold of it and sat his weight down on the bench and began to sob, knowing he had lost his nephew.
"I'm so sorry, Mr Munson." Dustin said. I went over and took a seat next to Wayne and comforted him as I also began to sob.
"I loved him very much, Mr Munson. He was a hero." I said to him.
"Even in the end, he never stopped being Eddie." joined Dustin as he sat the other side of Wayne, tears also showing. Wayne cradled the pic in his hands as he listened to our words and cried. "He fought and he died for a town that...hated him, so much. He's a hero, Mr Munson. A true hero."
"I'm so sorry." I said quietly. Wayne glanced over at my hand which was on his arm in comfort.
"Is that...is that an engagement ring?" he sniffled.
"Oh...y-yes." I replied.
"He did it then. My boy, he did it." he said, looking up at me. I just looked at him with teary eyes and nodded my head. All three of us sat there and felt for the next while, mourning our loss.
Leaving Wayne on his own felt awful but I knew we couldn't stay there. We returned the van to him and then Dustin and I made our way back by busing it and walking. We made it back to Nancy's where we found her, Robin, Max and Lucas outside by Nancy's car, loading it with old things to donate.
"Hey, you're back." Robin said to us.
"Yep. All done." I sighed. She gave me a sorry look and rubbed my back. I was happy to have such supportive friends in this heartbreaking time.
"Nancy! You forgot one!" said Mrs Wheeler as she came out of the house holding an extra box. Nancy gasped and picked up a soft toy rabbit from the box.
"Oh, Mr Rabbit!"
"You can keep him if you want, you know?" smiled Mrs Wheeler.
"No, he'd be much more loved in another home. Thanks." said Nancy as she took the box off of her. Suddenly, a car horn beeped from down the street which made us all look. Coming towards us, was a yellow Surfer Boy Pizza van. We didn't have Surfer Boy Pizza in Hawkins?
"Did someone order pizza?" asked Lucas. The van came right in and pulled up in Nancy's driveway. We all stood there, confused, until the van door slid open. I felt like I had frozen in time as four people stepped out of the van. Jonathan, Will, Mike and El stood before us.
"El!" I shouted as I saw her. El and I ran together and collided with a tight hug. Mike ran to to Mrs Wheeler whilst Jonathan and Nancy came together in a deep embrace. Max, Lucas and Dustin welcomed Will with open arms.
"Awh, look at this, family reunion." said the guy with really long, black hair who was driving the van.
"I can't believe it's you!" I said, pulling El away but still holding on to her.
"I'm back." she smiled. I looked up at her buzz cut head.
"What...what happened to your hair?" I asked.
"I've become a superhero again, Beth." she said, grabbing both of my hands and holding them. I looked at her with a confused expression and then it came to me. She had gotten her powers back.
"I'm so glad you're safe." I smiled at her. She looked down at my hands and spotted the ring. She then looked back up at me with wide eyes.
"You're engaged?" she asked. That's when I felt my heart become heavy. She didn't know. I looked at her with a sorry expression and she clocked on quickly.
"El!" said Max as she came over. She grabbed El for a hug whilst the boys came over to join us.
"Where's Steve and Imogen?" Mike asked us.
"They're...oh god...you don't know." replied Lucas. Will and Mike looked at Dustin who had a very glum look on his face.
"What happened?" asked Will.
"She's at the hospital. They both are." said Max. I looked at El who had a certain type of look on her face. It wasn't shock like the others but it was as if she already knew.
"Who's at the hospital?" asked Johnathan as him and Nancy joined us.
"Imogen...with Steve." I replied.
"Can we go see her?" asked Will.
"We've got to take some things to the families." said Lucas.
"I'll take you broski's to the hospital." said the man with long hair.
"Who...who are you?" Nancy asked.
"Argyle. I met these cool dudes whilst they were road tripping for superhero girl." Argyle smiled.
"He helped us get El back." said Mike.
"If you want to go with them to the hospital, Nancy, we don't mind sorting this." said Robin.
"Yeah, we've got it. Go see Imogen." said Max.
"Thank you." Nancy replied. Robin, Max and Lucas decided to help out with the people of Hawkins whilst El, Dustin, Nancy, Jonathan, Mike, Will and I decided to hop into Argyle's van and head to the hospital to visit Imogen and Steve.
In the van, Nancy tried to explain to Jonathan that it wasn't an earthquake that shook Hawkins but Jonathan explained that he already knew and that they all knew a lot more than we thought they did. After arriving at the hospital, Argyle stayed in the van to wait for us as we all made our way inside. We headed to the ward Imogen was kept on and went straight to her room. Walking in, her door was open and that's when we saw Steve sat beside Imogen's bed, holding her hand. She was in a coma with her arm and both her legs in casts. Steve looked up and saw us all walk in.
"Oh...hi." said Steve with pain in his voice. He had tear stains on his cheeks. He stood himself up and came over to us. He looked at El, Mike, Will and Jonathan and nodded. "It's good to see you all back."
"How is she?" El asked him.
"She's alive but she's stuck in a coma. The doctors don't know when she'll wake up...if she ever will." started Steve. He turned to look at her resting body. "She died. Her heart stopped for over a minute but, for some reason, she came back. They say it's a miracle." I looked over at El who had the same look on her face, as if she knew something we didn't. Mike turned to look at her, as if he was wondering something about El. El and I headed over to Imogen's bed side. She looked peaceful. El grabbed Imogen's hand.
"I'm here." she whispered to her. El then closed her eyes as if she was trying to see something. I watched as El seemed to go into some sort of focus. Was she trying to travel into Imogen's mind? Was Imogen still really here with us?
A few moments passed and El opened her eyes with a tear streaming down her cheek.
"Are you okay?" I asked her. She looked at me with sadness. I knew something was wrong.
"I want to go home." El said to me. She almost sounded defeated. I looked at her and nodded. We both hadn't been home, well, to Hopper's cabin in a long time. I think we needed it.
"I'm going to stay here with my sister and Steve." said Dustin.
"You sure, buddy?" Steve asked.
"Of course. I want to be here." Dustin replied.
"Look after each other." Nancy said to them both. Steve nodded his head at her as they began to turn away and exit the room. As I went to follow, Steve grabbed my arm to stop me.
"Beth." Steve started. "I'm so sorry."
"I know. I am too, Steve." I replied to him. He gave me a small grin and then let go of arm. "I'll see you soon." I said to them both.
"See you, Beth." said Dustin. I watched them both head to either side of Imogen's bed and sit with her before I followed the others. We were feeling the pain of losing a loved one, except I couldn't even physically see Eddie anymore.
Mike, Will and Jonathan explained their adventure on rescuing El to us and how El had previous relations with Vecna slash Henry slash One in the past when she was a test subject at Hawkins Lab. When we got to Hopper's cabin, El stormed off ahead of everyone and went straight inside, unlocking the door with her powers.
"Is she okay?" asked Nancy.
"She's never lost before, not like this." said Mike.
"I'll go see her." I replied. I walked up the porch steps and into the cabin. It felt weird but also relaxing to be home again. I followed through into our shared bedroom and saw she had left the door open three inches. That was always Hopper's saying; leave the door open three inches, for when we had the boys over. She kept doing it since the day he passed. I found her sat on her bed, hugging a teddy. I went and sat on my bed, opposite hers. "El? Are you okay?" I asked her. She looked up at me.
"Gone." she spoke.
"Gone?"
"Imogen. Gone."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I went into her mind to try and find her. She wasn't there. Nothing was."
"W-what does that mean?" I asked.
"I tried to help her. When she hid in a happy memory. I tried to fight." said El. I started to understand what she was talking about. El had been with us nearly the whole time during the battle. She tired to save Imogen inside of her head. The vines releasing us made sense. It was El.
"D-do you think Vecna took her then? Just like he took the others? But she's alive, how is this possible?" I questioned. El looked down towards my hands and reached out to touch the ring.
"Gone?" she asked, referring to Eddie. I felt sadness wash over me.
"Gone." I whispered back. El put her teddy down and then came over to me and gave me a hug.
"We still have each other." she said to me. I was so happy that El was back home and safe with the others and even happier that she had found a way to get her powers back. I was still curious on how all of that happened. From then, we heard footsteps begin to slowly walk towards our room. The footsteps sounded heavy, not like it was any of our friends. El and I looked at each other and then turned and looked at the door, waiting. That's when my heart skipped a beat as a man came through the bedroom door.
"Hello kids." spoke Hopper. I looked at him with my eyes wide and my mouth open, completely shocked.
"Hi!" exhaled El as she began to cry.
"Oh my god." I whispered. Hopper gave us a big smile as he came more into our room as El and I jumped off the bed and ran into his arms.
"I kept the door open. I kept the door open three inches." cried El as he held us.
"I can't believe you're here, you're alive!" I sobbed.
"It's okay, it's okay, girls." said Hopper, chuckling.
"I never stopped believing." said El. All three of us headed over on to my bed and sat down. Hopper took his cap off to reveal his shaved head.
"Your hair!" said El as she touched it.
"My hair, your hair!" said Hopper, touching hers. "Yeah...I kinda stole your look kid. What do you think?"
"Bitchin'." said El as we laughed.
"How're you holding up, kiddo?" Hopper asked me.
"Better now that you're here." I replied. Hopper smiled at me and then grabbed my hand and held it up, inspecting the ring.
"It happened then, aye?" he asked. My smile slowly faded off of my face and I looked down. El grabbed Hopper's other hand and spoke to him.
"Gone." she whispered. Hopper looked at me with sorry eyes.
"I'm sorry, kid." he replied. I nodded my head, keeping it down. "Hey, there's someone outside to see you." Hopper then said, changing the subject. I looked back up at him with an intrigued expression and then it hit me. Mom. I felt a smile come on to my face again as I stood myself up and rushed out of the cabin. Heading for the front door, I almost tripped trying to get there as soon as I could. I stood out on the front porch and saw Mrs Byers hugging Jonathan and Will and then my eyes locked on to my mom.
"Mom!" I shouted. Her eyes widened at the sight of me.
"Beth!" she cried as we both ran into each other and embraced. "Oh god, I'm so happy to see you."
"Some conference meeting, huh!?" I laughed.
"I know, I'm sorry, honey. I lied to protect you." she said. We pulled apart and she held my face as tears began to come from my eyes. "What's wrong?"
"I just...I missed you, mom. I missed you so much." I sobbed. She looked at me with loving eyes, something I needed in that moment.
"I missed you too. We missed you." she said, tilting her head over to the porch. I turned back and saw Hopper stood there with El resting her head on him. My family were back together again. I stood there and embraced the moment, watching all my friends become reunited again. I had no idea what happened to Hopper and how he survived, but I was so glad my mom and Mrs Byers went on their 'conference' in Alaska. I gazed over at Will who suddenly had a look of fear strike over him. He reached his hand up to his neck and then turned around and looked at the sky. I followed his stare and realised that something wasn't right. The sky began to become dark and stormy, but the storm didn't seem normal, in fact, it looked familiar. "What is it, Beth?" mom asked, wondering why I was looking at the sky confused. Mom and the others then noticed the sky and then something began to surround us which sent chills down my spine. It was ash. The ash from the Upside Down. How was that possible? We were in our Hawkins. Hopper decided to take the lead and began to walk away from the cabin and through the woods to get to the open field that was near us. All of us trailed behind him and El as the sky continued to get darker and the ash surrounded us. A clearing up ahead, we went through and found ourselves in the open field where we could look down on to Hawkins. Hawkins was still a mess from the cracks in the ground but that wasn't the worst of it. The sky above Hawkins was now flashing red, just like the Upside Down. The flowers in the field we were standing in began to die and the grass started to turn grey and lifeless. We had seen this before but as a vision. But it wasn't changing and going back to normal this time. It was real this time. This was what Vecna had shown me. This was his plan. El stood at the front, watching the sky become darker. Jonathan, Nancy and Mrs Byers stood one side, Mike and Will the other and I stood with my mom and Hopper as we watched the Upside Down bleed through into Hawkins. All of a sudden, I threw up. I didn't know it was going to happen, it was completely unexpected. I leant down on my knees and spat.
"Beth?" questioned Hopper.
"Beth, are you okay?" asked mom.
"I...yeah...I don't know." I replied.
"Are you sick?" asked mom.
"No." I said. That's when mom looked at me with a strike of fear in her expression. It's as if she knew something, something of a mothers instinct in her.
"Beth...when was your last period?" she asked.
"What?" I questioned. I looked her in the face and saw that she wasn't joking around. That's when it hit me, I hadn't had a period in over two months. I heard the words Vecna spoke to me play around inside of my head. 'For as the life and power, growing within you, is something I require.' I exhaled shakily. I was carrying a life inside of me. A life I knew I needed to protect.
The End...
If you would like more from Beth Knight please stick around for the spin off of this story coming soon.