—

The banging continues, i held myself, hands covering my ears from the noise. Lonnie kept yelling my name. I rocked myself, i want to be home. I want to go back home.

"Stop being a little bitch Wendy and come out!" Im done. I slowly got up, grabbed the curtain rod and ready to hit him with it. Just as I opened the door, I stepped into another room. The door closes shut and my hand went up to the name on the door. Wendy. It was a wooden plank with my name on it, it had butterflies, rainbows and flowers, mom made it. Am I home? Like actually home? I looked around the hallway. My baby pictures were sitting on the table, me in my school uniform, Will, Jonathan and I, a lot of school pictures.

"Wendy come down, its time!" I heard my moms voice. I slowly walked down the steps and head to the kitchen. There she was.

"Mommy." I said in a whisper and a smile. She turns to me, smiling.

"Hi Wendy." I turned to see my dad, in his mechanic suit, he always wore.

"Daddy." I sniffled. My parents. My parents opened their arms to give me a hug. "I missed you so much." My moms grip tightens, making it hard to breathe.

"Look at you." She looks at me, not letting me go. "You're so different. You look so beautiful."

"Steve's waiting."

"Steves here?" I looked around.

"Its time to come home Rabbit." Rabbit? No. It was bunny.

"What did you say?" My head looked up at my dad and his eyes were white. I pushed them off of me and i backed up.

"I thought you wanted us to a family again."

"No." I shook my head.

"Wendy..." my mom steps up. "Its time." Her face was getting red, her eyes were white. I booked it to the front door, the door was blocked with wood.

"Shit! Shit!" I repeated to myself. "This is so bad, this is the worse trip I've ever been on! Imma need that purple delight!" The floor creaked as someone walked up. I grabbed a baseball from my dads case, and waited. It was Lonnie.

"What are you doing here?" He comes up.

"I just wanted to go home." I stuttered.

"You are home."

"No, my home is with aunt Joyce and the boys and El. I just want to be with Steve." I swung the bat to make him stay back. "Stay away from me."

"Im not gonna hurt you Wendy. Just give me the bat." He tries to snatch it away from me. "Give me the bat." My back hit the wall, shit, im stuck. "Its time for your suffering to end." He raised his hand and i felt my life flash before my eyes.

"You forgot one thing you ugly piece of shit." I managed to get out. "I fucking hate Lonnie!" I swung the bat, hitting what was now Vecna over and over.

—

Steve backs up as Wendy started to levitate off of the ground. He tries to pull her down, yelling at Erica to hurry up.

"Shes in the air! God!" Steve starts to swear. "Wendy baby! Come on! Wake up!"

"Whats her favorite song!" Robin yells at him from above.

"Shit!"

"Steve!"

"What are even looking for?!"

"Madonna, Bowie, Blondie, Beatles? Music! We need music!" Robin yells at Eddie.

"This is music!" He grabs the tape of Black Sabbath and shoves it in her face. "Harrington! How do you not know what she likes?! Shes your girl!"

"What does she like?!"

"Billy Idol! ABBA! Bon Jovi!" Robin lists. "Her guilty pleasure is The Beach Boys!"

"Steve!"

"You guys yelling at me isn't going to make me think any faster! My girlfriend is possessed here! Shes in the air!" All Steve did was look at her. Come on Harrington what is it? You know this.

"Its gotta be Heartbreaker! She had that replaying. Its so annoying." No, Steve thought. That was her favorite, her guilty pleasure, but her all time, the song she sings, the one she plays on the guitar, the one she plays in the car, the one he always says he hates it but is actually his favorite. He knew.

"Holding out for a hero! Its Holding out for a hero by Bonnie Tyler!" He shakes.

"I have that hold on!" Eddie races to his room, tossing tapes left and right. As he found the tape, he laughs and plugs it on the stereo. "Come back to us Byers."

—

I heard Bonnie Tyler's voice and I saw Steve trying to bring me down. There it my way out. I swung hard and hit Vecna as i ran towards Steve. I can make it. I know i can.

"Before you go, I want you tell Eleven everything." My mind was filled with short images of Hawkins on fire, destroyed. I screamed, kneeling down from the horrible images. "This isn't over, ill be back agin for you." I opened my eyes and ran.

—

Steve quickly caught Wendy as she fell from the air. Wendy held onto Steve as he comforted her, holding her in his arms.

"I got you. I got you. You're okay. Im here." He kisses her head as she was in a full panic attack, gripping onto his arm. "Baby..." Wendy was catching her breath, still too stunned to move from everything she just experienced. "Can you move? Can you-"

"I can." Wendy croaks out. Steve help her sit up slowly, and then helped her to climb the rope. For moment, she didn't want to go, what happens if she goes back to that horrible memories. Wendy just closed her eyes and just hoped for the best. As she crashed onto the bed, Eddie, Max and Robin hovered over her, quickly taking the frighten girl to the couch. Steve comes back and sits down next to her, holding her hand as she was looking at the floor, reliving her worst nightmares.

"Wendy, what did you see?" Max looks at her. But she didn't say a thing. They waited for Wendy to say something but the words didn't come out. Steve went to get something for her drink and he came back, she finally spoke.

"I saw..." she said in a raspy voice. "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, a party, an army, of them. They were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then..." she closes her eyes. "He showed me aunt Joyce and the boys, and you." She looks up at Steve, breaking down as Vecna made her see Steve. " and they... they were all.." tears came down her cheeks.

"Okay but... hes just trying to scare you Wends." Steve kneels in front of me, holding my hands. I yanked them from him and stood up. "Its not real."

"Scare me? Not real? The son of bitch was my abusive uncle, hitting me, pinning me on the ground and then he was my parents. That seemed pretty real to me. Dont tell me that. If he showed me this, then god knows what he can do. He showed me that there was something else. He showed me gates. Five gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddies trailer, but they didnt stop growing. This wasn't the upside down Hawkins, this was is our Hawkins. Our home." I looked up and Steve pulls me into a hug.

"Five chimes." Max said. "Vecnas clock. It always chimes five times. Five exactly." We turned to her. "Hes been telling us his plan this whole time."

"Five kills. Five gates. End of the world."

"If thats true. Hes only two kills away." They all looked me and Max. Eddie swears, holding his face in his hands.

"Try them again. Try them again." Steve points at Max who tries to call the family back home. Max then hangs up.

"Anything?"

"No. Rang a few times and went to busy signal."

"Maybe you punched it wrong. Try again."

"I didn't punch it in wrong."

"Well I dont know."

"I think she knows how to use a phone." I head up to it, dialing the same number ive been trying reach this whole week. Again, busy signal. What is going on with them?

"How is that possible?"

"Joyce has this telemarketer job. Alway on the phone. Mile wont stop whining about it."

"No, the phones been busy for days now. Joyce is never this busy. And ive even tried my phone in my room and nothing. Its not Joyce. She was even scared for me to be here, that she'll have the phone by her side when I call but nothing. Somethings wrong, i can feel it. Will wouldn't do this either."

"Wendys right. It cant be just a coincidence. It cant be. Whatever is happening in Lenora is connected to all of this. Im sure of it. But Vecna cant hurt them. Not if hes dead. We have to go back in there. Back to the upside down." We all turned and look at Nancy. Go back? Oh hell no. Everyone said no, shaking their heads.

"Whoa! No no!"

"Nope." Eddie shakes.

"Lets think this through." Steve stands up.

"What is there to think about?" Nancy yells at him.

"We barely made it out of there in one piece." Steve points at me. "He can get her from there. He just did! Im not letting him have her."

"Yeah because we weren't prepared. 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 can kill us." I stood up to Nancy. "You know what he can do. He's not afraid to kill anyone one of you, doesnt matter if you're not on his list."

"The only reason Wendy survived is because he wanted her to. He's not scared of us."

"And for good reason." Robin gets up from the floor. "We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One." She stutters. "Sorry, what are we calling him now?" We all said the random names, which didnt help. "Right. We've learned something new about Vecna/Henry/One. Hes a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin. But, but, my point is he's super powerful. He could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. Its not a fair fight."

"So then why fight fair?" Dustin shrugs. "You're right. Hes like Eleven. But that gives us an upper hand. We know elevens strengths. And weaknesses."

"Weaknesses?"

"When El remote travels, she goes into this sort of trance like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna." They do have similar powers. Its worth a shot.

"That would explain what he was doing in that attic."

"Exactly. When he attacks his next victim, I'll bet hes back in that attic, physical body defenseless."

"Defenseless? What about the army of bats?" Steve scuffs.

"True. We'll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow."

"And uh..." Eddie sits up. "How do we do that exactly?"

"No idea." Eddie nods and sits back down. "But once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance. It'll be like slaying sleeping Dracula in his coffin."

"That all sounds good in theory. But there is no pattern to Vecnas killings. Not one that I can decipher. We dont know when he's going to attack next. We don't even know who hes going to attack." Robin points at Max and I.

"Yeah we do." Max sighs. "I can still feel him. He already told Wendy that he'll be back for her, so its my turn." I just closed my eyes. "Im still on his list. I ditch Kate Bush, i draw his focus back to me." Just as I was about to say something, Max stops me. "He wants you last, i dont know why, but let me do it, let me stop him."

"Max, you cant." Lucas tells her. "He'll kill you."

"I survived before. 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 dont care how you put this asshole in his grave. Just...whatever it is. Whatever you do...try not to miss." We all stood there, taking it for a moment. "Just please, dont miss."

"Fine." Steve sighs. He grabs a bottle of rubbing alcohol and takes my hand. "Munson, we're gonna use your room, we'll be out in a few." Eddie didn't even get to say anything before we locked ourselves in the room, we just head in. "Take off your shirt."

"Im fine." I grunted.

"You're banged up. I gotta put some rubbing alcohol on it. Its like really bad." He looks at my back. It did sting and had dried up blood. Might as well.

"Fine." I unbuttoned my shirt and slowly took it off. Steve turns around. "You can look right? Its not like we haven't been dating for what, 3 years now. You've seen my boobs before."

"Right." He coughs, helping me unclamp my bra. The shirt and bra hit the floor and I stood there, covering my chest. "This is going to sting." He pours the liquid onto my back, making me arch and groan.

"Shit!" I held onto the bed frame, biting my lip but still grunting from the pain.

"I know baby. I know." He shushes me. Steve pours more and picks up my clothes as he finished. He looks at me. He did look good in that vest, shirtless. Steve looks up and down, biting his bottom lip.

"Have you been a good boy?" I whispered as I got closer to him. My hand runs up his chest, my cold hands made his chest have goosebumps.

"I have." He whispers back. He kisses me and pins me against the wall. I groaned. "I thought i lost you." He breathes out.

"Im not going anywhere." My hand ran through his hair and he pulls his head back, making me kiss his neck. My bare chest hits his as Steve picks up my leg and wraps around his waist. "Are we going to do this here? In Eddies room?"

"We'll just make it quick." The sound his jeans unzipping, was so loud but for sure nobody heard but us. I closed my eyes as Steve lined himself up and pushed himself in. We both moaned into each other and started with a fast pace. Just as we gotten even faster, someone banged on the door, Steve quickly stood still, covering me with his body. My hands rested on his shoulder, the two of us breathing heavily.

"Come on, hurry up!" We heard Eddie try to come in. "Open the door Harrington!"

"Yeah just give us a second." Steve and I raced to get dressed again, helping me button my shirt. Steve nods to get ready and he opens the door. Eddie stand there, watching us leave his room.

"You filthy dog." Eddie scuffs. Steve puts his hand on my lower back and tells me to keep walking.