16. this world is a jungle full of warriors

As soon as Clemency heard the commotion, she got out of her hiding spot, startling them again for a second time, as they looked over to her, surprised. "Eddie, let go of him." She says, but he won't let go.

"Eddie, it's me. It's Dustin." Dustin calmly told Eddie, "This is Steve. He's not gonna hurt you, right, Steve?" Dustin says, as they all nervously watched, as Steve quietly agreed.

"Steve, why don't you drop the oar?" Dustin suggested, but when Steve dropped it, Eddie kept the sharp object closer, as the group exclaimed. "Eddie, he's cool. He's cool." Dustin added.

"Eddie, I told you, I have friends that will explain things. They are those friends, so you can trust them." Clemency softly says, as agreed with her. "These people, they are like family, you can trust them, I promise." She says, as Eddie finally lets go, and slowly crouches down and sighed.

Clemency crouched in front of him and asked him to give her the bottle, which he easily gave, as he kept his head down low, avoiding eye contact with any of the group.

"We want to know what happened." Robin softly asked Eddie, and looked over to Clemency. "What did you two witnessed..." She added, making Clemency sigh. "You won't believe me..." Eddie says, as he sniffled, and looked at them. "Try us." Max says, as Eddie looks over to her.

"And you have Clemency to back you up, Eddie." Dustin added, while Eddie looked over to Clemency as she nodded in agreement.

"Her body just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh... And she just, like, hung there. In the air. And her bones... Uh, she..." Eddie stammers as he explained, wincing at the thought of recalling what he had witnessed, as Clemency held his hand, and sighed. "It was... her bones started breaking... on their own..." Clemency added, as she looked at the group, as they looked back at her, horrified. "Her eyes, man. It... it was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling."

"I didn't know exactly what to do, but I just knew it will be bad if we stayed around... you know our cops, they won't believe us..." Clemency asked, as the group nodded. "And, I actually thought at first, there is one of those creatures we had fought before, and the lights triggered my fight or flight response... I thought we were being attacked, but Chrissy suddenly levitated... and that's where my knowledge ends, really..." She informed them, as Eddie looked at her intently.

"Clem, have you told Eddie anything, like, literally anything about what we've experienced?" Dustin asked, making Eddie turn his attention to him, as Clemency shook her head in response, and Dustin sighed. "Look, what I'm about to tell you might be a little... difficult to take." Dustin says as Eddie nodded in response. "Okay." He softly says.

"You know how people say Hawkins is... cursed?" Dustin asked, Eddie looked at him, intently. "They're not... way off. There's another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours." Dustin explained, as Eddie looked at Clemency. "Like you asked me before, something like a ghost.. Or possession, but way worse than that." She says, making him nervously sigh.

"These monsters from this other world... we thought they were gone... but they've come back before. That's why we needed to find you." Dustin says. "If they're back again, we need to know." Max added.

"That night... did you guys see anything?" Robin asked. "Dark particles, maybe?" Max added.

"No, man, there was nothing you could see, or touch..." Eddie responded. "And... Chrissy was like, in a trance, or something." Clemency added, as Eddie nodded in agreement. "But before that, she told me, she is seeing and hearing things... mostly relating to clocks... a grandfather clock." Clemency says, as they furrowed their eyebrows at her.

"You know, I tried to wake her, man. She couldn't move." Eddie added. "She was like, under a spell." Dustin thought. "A curse." Eddie added, looking at Dustin.

"Vecna's curse." Dustin thought, as the others looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Who's Vecna?" Steve asked, looking at Dustin. "An undead creature of great power." Dustin informed, in realization. "A spell caster." Eddie added. "A dark wizard." Dustin continued,

‧₊˚

"Did you hear that?" Eddie whisper-shouted in panic, as he took off the tarp covering him, as he made eye contact with Clemency. "It's probably just Dustin and the others..." She says, seemingly relaxed, making Eddie look in at her sternly.

"We can't be so sure..." He says, as he jumps off the boat "You stay there." He whispered, as he frantically looked around with his eyes, and hurried to the window.

Eddie painted, as he looked outside, cussed and sighed in relief seeing the outside empty, but both Clemency and Eddie yelped and he pointed a broken bottle at the door as it burst open. He exhales as he sees it really is just Dustin and the other three, and agitatedly looks back at them.

"See, I told you it's just them..." Clemency says, trying to cover up the fact that she just had a mini heart attack.

‧₊˚

"So, do you guys have any news?" Clemency asked, as she ate the food they brought her and Eddie.

"Well, we do... but it's some good news and bad news. How do you prefer it?" Dustin says, as the two look at the boy. "Bad news first." They both responded, as Clemency stared blankly in the distance. "Always." Eddie added, as he dug in his food.

"All right. Bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you..." Dustin says as he looks at Eddie, looking more worried now. "Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy." Dustin added, as Clemency's head turned to look at the group in disbelief. "Like, one hundred percent kind of convinced." Max added.

"I knew it... the cops are always like that, even with seeing some impossible shit, they'll still try to reason with something more logical to them..." Clemency sternly says, as Dustin nodded, in agreement.

"What's the good news then?" Clemency asked, looking at Dustin, with furrowed eyebrows. "Eddie's name hasn't gone public yet, while nobody knew you were with him last night too." Robin told Clemency, and looked back at Eddie. "But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do, too. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you." Robin added, as Eddie agitatedly looks down.

"Hunt the freak, right?" He says, as he looks back up to Robin. "Exactly."

"Shit..." Eddie cussed in frustration as the group looked at him. "So, before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence." Dustin informed, as the rest of the group nodded, making Eddie look at him with his eyebrows furrowed. "That's all, Dustin? That's all?" He sarcastically says, as the boy looks up as he thinks. "Yeah, no, that's pretty much it." Dustin responded, earning a look of disbelief from Eddie.

"Listen, Eddie, I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this before. I mean, they have a... a few times, and... and I have once. Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related... even Clemency did!" Robin informed him, as Eddie looked in shock trying to comprehend all the information he was receiving, and looking over to Clemency. "Yeah, I was more underground based and dog looking monster things..." She says as she looked at Steve, who nodded at her in response, making Eddie look with his eyebrows furrowed. "And yeah... the human-flesh-based thing." Clemency added.

"But, bottomline is, collectively, I really feel like we got this." Robin says, as Eddie looked over to her, with the same look in his face. "Yeah, see, we usually rely on this girl who has superpowers. Bur, uh, those went bye-bye, so..." Steve added, making Eddie more confused, and surprised.

"Yeah, that is what's running in my mind back in his trailer when the light's started flickering! I was like, 'Oh no, El's in California- Shit, she didn't have her powers!' Things like that..." Clemency informed as Eddie looked over to her, and the others nodded in agreement.

"So... we're technically in more of the-" Robin says, as Max added, "Brainstorming phase." As the rest of the group agreed. "There's nothing to worry about." Dustin reassured, as Eddie looked at him in disbelief, then he suddenly realized something, and slowly looked over to Clemency.

"Wait... Clemency, so that night, that you said you were out hanging out with Mike and Nancy at the Starcourt mall when it burnt down...?" He asked, unsure, as Clemency pursed her lips looking back at Eddie. Max put her head down low, and sighed upon hearing this. They all nodded, supporting his suspicion, but they were all startled by the sounds of police car's sirens, as they hurried to the window, Clemency quickly covered Eddie with the tarp, and followed the others.

"Shit... have you guys seen Nancy around?" Clemency asked in panic as the rest looked at her. "Why?" Steve asked, as she turned her head to look at him.

"We all know Nancy, she will most likely try to get to the bottom of this..." She says, as the rest looked at each other, and nodded. "Okay, we'll follow where the police are going and we will find Nancy, you stay here." Dustin informed, but Clemency looked with furrowed eyebrows and shook her head. "Don't worry, and stay here." Steve says, as he held both Clemency's shoulders, as she looked back at him with pursed lips, but Eddie took off the tarp and called for her.

"Like you said, nobody saw her with me, I think she could go out. And I'll also be fine here." He told the group, and looked at Clemency. "Go find your sister." He added, as she looked at him and the others, making Dustin sigh and let her come with them.

‧₊˚

"So... are we not gonna talk about why you were even in his trailer that night... and when, whatever you have, even started?" Steve says, as he kept his eyes on the road as he drove his car following where the police were going. Clemency sighed, and kept her eyes on the road. "Well, we accidentally met outside of school, and since then, we have become friends." Clemency softly says, as the rest furrowed their eyebrows. "Really? Just that easy?" Steve scoffs, as Dustin glared at him.

"Eddie's a good person, all right. It does seem unbelievable for Clemency to be friends with him, but Eddie himself has always been good guy." Dustin says, as Clemency nodded in agreement.

"Wait- since when did you guys become friends exactly?" Robin wondered, as Clemency turned her head to look at the girl. "Around my sophomore year, I think?"

"You've been friends for that long and you haven't told anyone?" Max says, as they all looked surprised. "Yeah.. well, Amanda did know about it since we worked together at Wyatt's." She said as the rest nodded.

"And... why exactly didn't you wanna tell anyone about your friendship?" Dustin asked, suspiciously. "I... I don't know." She stammers, making Dustin scoff.

"Because of your popularity status, perhaps?" He sarcastically guessed, as Clemency sighed in response. "Of course, it is." Dustin disappointingly says.

"I regret it, okay? I am starting to be more public about it... but then, all of this happened..." Clemency says, as she purses her lips, feeling guilty. Clemency really did regret it, she had been thinking of hanging out with him and showing off to people that they are friends, but she would always back out. Not attending whenever his band will play, because the rest of the band will recognize her. All those things, she knew those were quite shitty reasons, and did feel guilty, and felt like a bad friend, now that she thought about it.

"Okay, but tell me this one thing. What are you two, really?" Steve asked, making Robin smirk. "Why, Steve? Are you jealous?" Robin suddenly asked, teasingly, making Clemency look at her, confused.

"Robin, when will you stop teasing me with her?" Steve sternly asked. "Well, once you actually get a girlfriend, dingus."

‧₊˚

the title is a lyrics from tomorrow x together's song called 'puma'