"Come on, this way," Eddie said, leading the group through the alternate version of the Munsons' trailer and pushing open the door to his bedroom. "Jesus Chr..." he breathed, but his voice was soon cut off in a whimper as he stared at an identical version to the guitar he'd kept hanging on his bedroom mirror for the past four years.

Dustin began to chuckle as Eddie took a step closer to the guitar, his eyes never once wavering from the dark red instrument. Lily watched as he continued to advance towards the guitar, though his mesmerized movements were almost hesitant, as if he were afraid to touch it. After all, it was his prized possession back home, something even Lily had only been allowed near once or twice.

"It's like... she was destined for an alternate dimension." Eddie mused, reaching a hand out to lift it off of the stand holding it up. "What do you say, guys? Are you ready for the most metal concert in the history of the world?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Dustin asked, grinning.

"Duh," Nick said.

"You really had to ask?" Lily added, crossing her arms over her chest and giving the boy a knowing smile.

Eddie's smile grew as he lifted the guitar strap over his shoulder. "Let's do it," he smirked, tossing the guitar over his shoulder so the instrument hung behind him and moving back towards the front door of the trailer.

"Alright, final order of business." Nick said as they closed the trailer door behind them, now eyeing the ladder leading up to the roof where the amps and other equipment lay, waiting to be set up for the distraction performance. "Henderson, want to give me a hand?"

"You've got it," Dustin said, following her up the ladder and leaving Eddie and Lily alone on the ground.

"Think the sound will be enough to reach all the way to Creels'?" Eddie asked. "Or should we have gotten our hands on one more amp?"

"It'll be plenty." Lily assured him. "We don't need to deafen the bats, just need them to hear you and follow the source of the sound." Lily watched Eddie as his eyes trained on the ground, leaving them in silence. "This is going to work, Eds. We're going to save Max, save you, and then this'll all be over and we can get out of here."

Eddie looked back up towards the roof of the trailer, making sure that Nick and Dustin were both occupied with the amps before he reached up, cupping either side of Lily's face before leaning in to kiss her. She kissed him back eagerly, stepping closer to him until the tips of her shoes met his and wrapping her arms around his neck. Suddenly, if only for a moment, they were no longer in the Upside Down preparing for what had the potential to be the last night of their lives, but they were back at Skull Rock the summer before, full of life and thinking a tomorrow was guaranteed. When Eddie finally pulled away, he rested his forehead against hers, smiling breathlessly.

"Sorry," he murmured. "I just had to do that, in case this all winds up going south."

She shook her head, stepping back a bit so she could look at them. "Nothing's going to go south." she said adamantly. "You're going to go up there, blow the roof off this place and rock the Upside Down, and then we get ourselves to safety. You hear me?"

"Yeah," Eddie said, nodding. "I hear you." his gaze moved briefly over to the ladder before back to her. "Shall we?"

Lily nodded in agreement as he began to scale the ladder, and once he was up safely did she follow suit. She was careful to dodge any vines that clung to the side of the trailer as she climbed, though thankfully they had steered clear of the ladder, giving them a safe pathway.

"Check out this view," Eddie said, extending a hand to where Lily had reached the top rung of the ladder and pulling her up onto the roof of the trailer.

"Wow," Lily breathed, eyes glued to the expanse of woods stretching out before them as far as the eye could see, and Eddie wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her on her feet, pulling her closer to him. "Why don't we come up here more often? The trailer with the nice view of actual Hawkins, anyways, where I don't have to worry about tripping over a vine and letting Vecna know that we're here."

"Sounds like a plan," Eddie assured her, looking back behind them to where Nick was hooking up the last of Eddie's amps, getting the equipment ready for the show. "How's it coming along?"

"Almost done." Nick said, plugging in the final attachments before handing a cord to Eddie. "Have that one ready to go, and when they tell us to start phase three, Dustin will plug in the cord that'll hook everything up to the power. Once that's connected, you should be ready to play."

"You're the best," Eddie said, hooking his guitar up to the cord to connect it to the amps.

"Remember that next time I need a favor." she said.

"Well, hopefully next time you need a favor, I won't be on the run and wanted for murder." Eddie retorted.

Lily crossed over to where her spear and shield rested on the ground near where Eddie was set to play, and she picked up the weapons, holding them close as they waited with bated breath for the voice to come through the walkie talkie and signal for the distraction to begin. Nick was close behind, picking up her own weapons as Eddie took his spot on the center of the roof, and Dustin waited near the amps, holding the walkie talkie and ready to plug in the final cord.

"She's in," Robin's voice came through the walkie talkie as it crackled to life. "Initiate phase three."

Lily's heart dropped into her stomach at Robin's words that Max had been successful in baiting Vecna, and that he was currently back in her mind, attempting to hurt her the same way they'd lost Chrissy, Patrick, and Fred. However, she forced herself to push the thoughts from her mind and instead focus on doing her part for the plan, to protect Eddie. The sooner they distracted the bats, the sooner the others could kill Vecna, and save Max before it was too late. She could only hope her sister managed to stall Vecna and keep herself unharmed in the process.

"Copy that, initiating phase three." Dustin replied into the walkie talkie before setting it down and reaching for the orange extension cord at his feet, beginning to plug it into the amp cord. "Let's hope they hear this," he said, plugging the cords in and turning up the amp as loud as it would go, which began to crackle with feedback to alert them that it had, in fact, begun to work. Once he was satisfied with the volume, he turned to Eddie, nodding and signaling for him to begin.

"Chrissy," Eddie muttered, reaching up to pull off the chain fastening his guitar pick around his neck. "This is for you."

Eddie's eyes met Lily's as he spoke, and she gave him an encouraging nod as he let out a yell, lifting the guitar and beginning to strum the first few chords. While she hadn't listened to 'Master of Puppets' on her own since its recent release, she recognized the sound as the song that had drifted to her mobile home and in her bedroom window from the Munsons' quite a few times the last few weeks, much to her dismay while she had been doing homework, even if she hadn't been able to work up the courage to speak to Eddie to ask if he could turn the volume down.

Neither of them had known it, but in all the times she'd heard the guitar chords and silently begged him to quiet down so she could study, he'd been practicing for the song that could potentially save all of their lives, and even the entire world.

Lily watched in awe as Eddie continued to play, nodding his head along to the beat, and, while she tightened her grip on her spear and shield to ward off any approaching Demobats, she couldn't take her eyes off of how into the music Eddie seemed to be. Even given the circumstances, and the imminent danger surrounding all of them at any given moment, he put his all into the performance, ready to do whatever it took to buy their friends the time they needed to sneak into the Creel House.

Meanwhile, while Lily and Nick guarded the boys, Dustin had also joined into the metal vibe of the distraction, nodding his head along in time with Eddie's, a big smile adorning the boy's face as he watched his friend play. From the moment she'd first told the younger boys about Hellfire, she knew Dustin and Eddie would get along, but she couldn't have imagined just how much Eddie would've taken Dustin under his wing, especially after Lily had left both of them in the dust behind her last summer.

"See anything yet?" Nick called to Lily over the music, and she looked up at the sky in the direction of the house, squinting in an attempt to make out any bats that may be nearby but instead only catching glimpses of the red lightning streaking across the sky.

"Nothing," Lily called back.

Dustin pulled out a pair of binoculars, tearing his attention away from Eddie and studying the sky in the distance. Lily watched as the awestruck smile slowly faded away from Dustin's face, and the boy began to tense up as he lowered them again, turning back to the group.

"Eddie!" Dustin yelled. "We gotta lock down in t-minus thirty seconds!"

Eddie nodded as he continued to play, exchanging a brief glance with Lily before she looked back up at the sky, the bats now visible in her sight without the binoculars, but only just. She couldn't make out how many there were, the bats appearing as mere specks in the distance against the red lightning, but with each passing second, the swarm grew larger and larger.

"T-minus twenty!" Dustin shouted.

Eddie nodded, eyebrows furrowing together in concentration as he reached the song's guitar solo for what he'd excitedly described to Lily earlier that evening as his "grand finale." His fingers flew up and down the strings, hitting the various chords in quick succession. Lily stepped between Eddie and the angle the bats were approaching from, even though they were still quite a ways away, holding onto the weapons in an attempt to keep them from getting any closer to him.

"T-minus ten!"

Eddie continued the guitar solo, gritting his teeth as he played the notes as quickly as he could. Lily looked back up as the bats drew closer, now descending upon Forest Hills Trailer Park in their attempt to reach the source of the noise, the four teenagers on top of the trailer.

"Five!" Dustin shouted, counting down in his head before looking back at them again. "One!"

At Dustin's final countdown, Eddie played one last chord, strumming it as hard as he could and letting it ring as he hurriedly pulled off the strap of the guitar, setting it down on the trailer roof before turning to the others, the bats growing closer and closer with each passing second.

"Alright, let's go!" Eddie shouted. "Everybody inside, now!"