𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘛𝘐𝘔𝘌 - 𝘌𝘋𝘋𝘐𝘌 𝘔𝘜𝘕𝘚𝘖𝘕

𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍: 𝐒𝐊𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊

Amanda woke to the sound of bickering between Steve and Dustin, though as much as it reminded her of nails on a chalkboard, she was relieved she could hear again. Sitting herself up weakly, she disrupted the argument. 

"Hey." Nancy smiled, who had been sat next to her as if she'd been watching over her. 

"What did I miss?" Amanda questioned, looking to them all as she noticed Eddie in a saddened state. 

"We found Vecna's spot in the upside down, in the Creel house. The upside down communicates to this world with lights, and the same time that Patrick was killed last night was the same time all our flashlights went crazy and broke." Lucas explained, tapping his foot impatiently as he told her the story. 

"Wait- who's Patrick?" Amanda questioned, leaving them all concerned with her lack of knowledge. 

"He was with Jason last night. Do you remember that?" Robin asked, causing Amanda to nod. 

"No, I remember everything. But I just don't know any names." Amanda further explained. 

"Hey, uh, Henderson's not uh... cursed, is he?" Eddie questioned, looking to Steve then to Dustin. Amanda turned to see Dustin pacing while looking at his compass, as if thoughts were brewing in his head. 

"Cursed? No, he's fine. Mental? Absolutely." Steve responded, nodding as he crossed his arms. Before Eddie could respond, Dustin began to shout. 

"Boom! Bada... bada... boom!" Dustin shouted, pointing at Steve as if he were proving something. Steve furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his head slightly as he waited for Dustin to elaborate. 

"I was right. Skull rock was north." Dustin exclaimed, pointing to the sky as a smile appeared on his face. Steve looked away for a moment, trying not to roll his eyes at the boy. 

"Seriously? You're serious?" Steve spoke in disbelief towards the stubborn boy, who replied with a simple yes. 

"This is skull rock, okay? You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now." Steve shouted back, making gestures with his hands as he did so. Dustin leaned forward, as if he were to agree with Steve. 

"Yes... and no." Dustin responded slowly. 

"Oh my God." Steve pulled his hands over his face in frustration, as all the others had grew frustrated with their bickering. 

"This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. It was correct when we got in the car on Curly. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was." Dustin explained, confusing Amanda completely. 

"So you're using faulty equipment, dude. You're still wrong." Steve pointed out, gesturing his hands outwards. 

"Except it isn't faulty. Lucas, remember what can affect a compass?" Dustin turned to Lucas, to which the other boy's eyes lit up. 

"An electromagnetic field." Lucas responded, pointing his index finger towards the boy. 

"Yep." Dustin nodded, causing Amanda to shake her head in confusion and frustration. 

"I'm sorry, what the hell are you guys talking about? Care to explain for the ones here who aren't nerds?" Amanda questioned, looking to Dustin for an answer. 

"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So either there's some super big magnet around here, or..." Dustin explained, to which Lucas cut him off. 

"There's a gate." Lucas added. 

"But we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy stated, to which Amanda immediately agreed. 

"But what if, somehow, there's another gate? A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful." Dustin theorized, waving his had as he made his point. 

"Snack sized gate." Robin joked, though it had been overlooked. 

"How?" Amanda questioned, standing herself up slowly. 

"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is because then we'd have a way to Vecna. And a shot at freeing Amanda and Max from this curse." Dustin walked down the pathway, to which Steve called after him. 

"Where are you going?" Steve asked as the boy was determined to find the gate. 

"Dustin, Eddie's still wanted. We can't just leave." Amanda pointed out, causing Steve to motion towards her in agreement. 

"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving Max, Eddie, and you. What say you, Eddie the Banished?" Dustin drew the attention to Eddie, who sat there in silence. Amanda could see that he was weighing his options, and had hoped that he'd choose to stay put. 

"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think it's a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire... the Shire is burning. So... Mordor it is." Eddie stood himself up confidently, before following behind Dustin. Following behind him was the rest of the group, leaving Steve and Amanda beside each other. 

"What is Mordor?" Steve questioned, annoyed with the decision that had been made. 

"I have no clue." Amanda shrugged, walking slowly behind the rest. 

They'd walked for hours, engaging in meaningless conversation with Steve about the other encounters he'd had with these unworldly creatures. At points he'd go into vivid detail, and at others he'd brag about his accomplishments. 

"So you're telling me that you fought off evil Russians, were held captive, tortured and drugged, and after all that fought against a fifty feet tall monster with fireworks?" Amanda clarified, to which he confirmed nonchalantly. 

"Yeah, because that's totally normal." Amanda sighed in disbelief, trying to imagine Steve Harrington fighting off monsters. She couldn't believe that he'd been protecting Hawkins for so long, and his reputation made it seem as if he wouldn't care about what happened to others. Amanda had realized that she was misguided by gossip, and that Steve Harrington was, in fact, a good person. 

"Are you okay?" Steve asked, motioning towards her homemade bandage. 

"I think so, yeah. I think I might've passed out because of blood loss or something, I don't know." Amanda shrugged. 

As Amanda began to fall behind, Robin quickly made her way back towards Amanda in an attempt to keep her company. 

"I heard you're afraid to use your powers." Robin brought up, pulling her arm around Amanda with a light grip. 

"Who told you that?" Amanda looked to Robin with a serious expression, though the look Robin was sent did not discourage her. 

"Nancy did. Did you know that more people die in car accidents than plane crashes every year? And still, people are afraid to get on planes." Robin explained. Amanda tilted her head in confusion. 

"I'm just saying that sometimes our fears are irrational." Robin concluded, leaving a smile on Amanda's face. Robin was right, after all. Her powers could be used for good, she just needed to figure out how to control them. 

A/N:

THIS IS WHERE THE ACTION BEGINS!!
I used dialogue from the show because it's important, but not everything is going to be just straight dialogue from the episodes, so don't worry! Also, volume 2 comes out tomorrow so I'll finally be able to figure out a ending that collides with the original storyline, though I have the basic ending already planned out. Get ready, there's a lot that's going to happen with Amanda and her mother soon!