As Hawkins Falls: Max Mayfield x Fem Reader- A Stranger Things Fanfiction

52: Let the Compass Lead the Way

Fifty-two: Let the Compass Lead the Way

!!!

Max and Y/n hurried to catch up with the others, hearing Steve's voice as they neared their friends and saw that they had arrived at Skull Rock.

"Oh, boom!" He shouted. "Bada bing, bada boom! There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock! In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face," the boy teased, and Dustin seemed dumbfounded. "It doesn't make sense," he denied, and Steve continued. "Yeah, yeah. Even when it staring you right in the face, you can't admit it. You just can't admit you were wrong, you little butthead."

"I concur," the distinct voice of Eddie Munson suddenly sounded, making Y/n jump and Max chuckle at her.

"You, Dustin Henderson," Eddie continued, "are a… total butthead."

"Jesus, we thought you were a goner," Dustin sighed, bringing Eddie in for a hug. The boy hugged back as he spoke. "Yeah, me too, man. Me too."

!!!

Spring in Hawkins was a pretty time of year.

Flowers bloomed, the trees were greener than ever, and birds twittered all over town.

And Y/n found herself desperately wishing she was at that picnic she mentioned. Sitting on a blanket, popping grapes in her mouth with her girlfriend beside her, both staring off at Lover's Lake as it glimmered in the sunlight, not a care in the world in that moment. But, of course, that's not how it was for them. That's not how it's been for a while, and Y/n missed it more than anything.

Right now, Y/n and Max were sitting on a log rather than a picnic blanket, and instead of listening to the birds, they were listening to Eddie speak about his experiences while they were gone.

"I tried calling you guys, but, uh… my walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran."

A wave of sympathy washed over Y/n at Eddie's words. He was thrown in the water with alternate dimensions and monsters, and he didn't know how to swim.

"Do you know what time this was?" Nancy asked. "This attack?"

Eddie started to take his watch off. "Yeah, no. I- I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked," he said before tossing his watch to Nancy. Although she was taken by surprise, she still caught it. The girl looked at the time frozen on the watch and nodded. "Nine twenty-seven," she read, and Robin chimed in. "Same time our flashlights went kablooey," the girl recalled. Everyone started to connect the dots in their heads, except for Steve. He never really put the pieces together in these kinds of situations. That's something that's never changed. "Which… means what, exactly?" He wondered.

"Seriously, Steve?"

"That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick," Nancy told him.

"Well," Robin sighed. "We're one step closer, we know how Vecna attacks."

"And where he attacks from," Lucas added, and Eddie seemed slightly lost. "Which is how? And where?" He asked.

"'How' is by infiltrating their mind, kinda like Freddy Krueger, and 'where' is from the Upside Down in the attic of his old house," Y/n explained for thr boy, who nodded. From beside Y/n, Max spoke up. "So… now, we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart."

"Easy-peasy," Y/n smiled.

Robin cocked a brow. "If he even has a heart."

Steve seemed confused yet again. "A stake? Is he, like, a vamp- is he a vampire?" He asked as if he had some sort of revolutionary realization. Y/n sighed at the boy, her head dropping into her hands as she sat down on a rock, still beside Max. The redhead in question looked at Steve, shocked at his obliviousness. "It was a metaphor," she told him.