Vecna's Pawn || Eddie Munson

~Prologue~

~Starcourt Mall (1985)~

Billy POV:

Aaron was right.

In what I know will be my last moments I think about how I've treated Max, what I had last said to Aaron.

Then I see my boyfriend's sister and my sister's best friend, lying helplessly on the ground where that...creature is about to end her.

I don't think. I act. I run in front of it and grab it's weird tentacle mouth thing. Gross.

I feel a sharp pain in my side. Then another, and another, and I realize that it has stabbed me several times. I feel a gross liquid spill out of my mouth.

I know that my death is coming soon and I wanna go down fighting. I let out one last battle cry as I'm impaled once more through the chest.

I hear my sister scream my name. It breaks my heart. It hurts knowing that after all I've done to her, she can still love me. She rushes to my side and I look up to Max. My beautiful, brave little sister.

Just behind Max, stands Aaron. Tears in his wide eyes and horror written all over his expression. I turn back to face Max. "T-take care of A-Aaron for me, will you?" She gives me a weak smile and a nod. "I-I love you M-Max" I choke out. "And I'm so s-sorry."

She sniffles. "I love you too Billy."

Aaron kneels down beside me. "Please-" he tries to say through his tears. "You can't leave me Billy." He whimpers.

I grasp his hand in mine. "I love you Aaron," I find the strength to tell him.

I try to say more. There's so much I have to say to them. The two most important people in my life. My Maxine and my Aaron.

I try to speak but the words get lost as my vision turns black and my thoughts disappear.

*****

~Hawkins, Indiana (1985)~

Aaron POV:

Aleksei is dead. He was a beautiful soul who just wanted a cherry slushy and now he's dead.

Hopper is dead. A protective father figure towards Eleven and I, and a damn great police chief.

Billy Hargrove is dead. A terrible person some might say...but if you ask the right people they will tell you he was a wonderful human being. If you ask me or Max, we will tell you the truth.

Billy Hargrove was a dick.

He was temperamental and abusive and never let anyone in...until me.

He always used to tell me that I crashed into his life like a hurricane; unexpected and unwanted.

His hate for me led to us hooking up every time no one was around.

The hookups started as just that; hookups. Though after a while we would start to catch each other staring across the hall.

One day I couldn't hold it in anymore and I told him how I felt. He yelled at me, saying how we would never be anything more than a hookup because nobody liked a fag.

I cried. I've always hated that word. I hated it even more, coming from his mouth. He saw me crying and called me a pussy before storming off.

Like I said, he was a dick.

Billy Hargrove did have a heart though. He loved me. I know that now. He was cold and abusive but he loved me and that was enough for me.

One day he came to me and told me he felt the same. I wanted to laugh and cry and scream in his face...but I didn't.

We became official. Secretly official, but official none the less.

Everything was going great. He opened up to me and I opened up to him.

I just had to say the L word.

I told him I loved him and his face grew cold as he scolded me for saying such a stupid thing.

He hit me that day. He had never hit me before.

I lost it.

I never lose my temper but something in me snapped. I told him that he loved me too and that he was too much of a coward to admit it.

He broke my arm that night. It's still broken.

Even after all the pain he's caused me, I still loved him. I will always love him and nobody will know except for me, Max and a dead Billy Hargrove.