The Dive, Part 3

3rd Person's POV

As soon as her back hit the ground, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist and pulled her up against them.

"You're okay, you're okay."

It sounded like they were comforting themselves rather than Valerie.

"I-I made it. Fuck." Feeling the arms around her tighten, she looked down to see Eddie's ring clad fingers. She relaxed into his body, "Really thought I was gonna die back there."

Before she could realise it, Dustin lunged himself at her and wrapped his arms around her neck. She just held him for a while, running her fingers through his curls until he pulled back.

Only to reveal a very grumpy, yet tear stained face.

Valerie wiped at his cheeks, "Okay, you're gonna need to stop staring at me like I'm the asshole here."

"You almost died!"

"Yeah, but I didn't okay? What did you think I was going to do? Leave you with Harrington?" She let out a scoff, turning to look at Steve, "No chance-"

She finally cracked a smile, "Were you crying, Steve?"

A teary eyed Steve blinked a few times, "No?"

She laughed and stood up, walking up to him, "Is it because I almost died-"

Steve glared at her.

"-or is it because I said I wouldn't trust you with Dustin?" She turned to look at Dustin only to see Eddie still sitting on the ground next to him, again, teary eyed.

She opened her mouth and covered it with her hand, teasingly, "Were you crying too, Munson?"

Eddie stood up and wiped at his eyes, "I have no idea what you're talking about man."

She grinned and looked back and forth between Eddie and Steve, "Aw, you guys are so cute."

"You're flattering yourself way too hard, Henderson." Steve shook his head, clearly flustered.

"Yeah, it's not a good look." Eddie said, cheeks tinted pink, "I'm starting to think we should've just left her there to die."

"Yeah, don't know what we were thinking." Steve nodded.

"I, for one, agree-" Robin walked up to Valerie.

"Robinn-" Valerie opened her arms up to hug her, but she swatted them away.

"Why would you not tell us?!"

Valerie frowned, "Tell what?"

"The symptoms. You knew, you were there when I read Chrissy and Fred's file. You never told us." Max said.

"The symptoms..." Valerie scrunched her eyebrows, "I never had any symptoms."

"What?" Max said.

"That's not possible, Chrissy, Fred and Max all had them." Robin said.

"We thought he was like a serial killer, right? Stalking their prey before he killed them? Maybe he realised that we knew." Nancy said.

"Right, we knew about the symptoms. So if he stalked you, we would know. And he knew we would be able to get you out, because we did it with Max." Steve said.

"So he attacked Valerie when she was with the only person, me, who had no clue about what happened to Max. Thanks for not telling us shit by the way." Eddie gave all of them a very clearly fake smile.

"Wait, what happened to Max?" Valerie asked.

"We saved her with the power of music." Robin grinned, batting her eyelashes at her.

"Yeah, to sum it up, I guess." Steve frowned.

"Wait, music? Is that why there was a song playing inside my brain while I was dying? I'm so confused."

"We'll explain everything, but you two need food in your system." Robin looked at Eddie and Valerie.

They couldn't argue with that logic, so they sat down and munched on some food while Nancy and Robin told them what they saw at Pennhurst asylum.

"So you were at the graveyard?" Valerie asked Max.

"Yeah, I was reading my letter to Billy. But then everything around me turned dark and that's when I actually saw him."

"What was the last thing you said to me? Before, you know-" Valerie trailed off, looking at Eddie.

"I just asked you about that ex of yours, uh, Peterson."

Valerie shared looks with Steve, Robin and Dustin, with them finally putting the pieces together.

"Except in my version you kept pushing it, you kept asking about him until I snapped. I looked at you, but I saw him instead." Valerie sighed.

"I didn't know-"

"I know. Nobody does. Everybody thinks he's a hero."

The silence in the air was thick, with nobody knowing what to say.

"Anyways, I entered this place. It was covered in fog, and it was all red-"

"I did too," Max interrupted her, "we think that's his mind, and that somehow we infiltrated it."

"And why would his mind have staircases and doors?"

"We figured that out too, it's parts of Viktor Creel's house. We were there last night."

"Hey, do you remember what time it was, the attack?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, I know exactly what time it was. Our walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." Eddie removed his watch and tossed it to Nancy.

"9:27." Nancy looked at it.

"Same time our flashlights went kablooey at Creel's house." Robin said.

"Which means what, exactly?" Valerie asked.

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

"Okay, then we're one step closer." Robin said, "We know how Vecna attacks."

"And where he attacks from." Lucas added.

"Now we just need to go to the upside down, and shoot his pretty little face off." Valerie shrugged.

"Or we could drive a stake through his heart?" Eddie suggested.

"Sounds like a date."

Eddie raised his eyebrows. Oh the stupid things Valerie made him feel, without her ever realising it.

"A stake? Wait, is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve suddenly looked very alarmed.

"It was a metaphor." Max rolled her eyes.

"I say we chop his head off." Lucas says.

"I'd say all of the above, but we can't do any of that 'til we find a way into the upside down." Nancy said.

"If only we had El." Valerie sighs.

"Everything was way easier. We had this girl. She had superpowers-"

Eddie cut Steve off, "Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her." He paused to take a take a look at Dustin, who had been pacing back and forth all this time, "Hey, uh, Henderson's not cursed, is he?"

"He better not be." Valerie crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes Steve.

"Don't give me that look, he's fine. Mental? Absolutely."

"Boom!" Dustin yelled, making everyone flinch and look at him.

He pointed his finger at Steve, "Bada... bada... boom."

"Mental." Valerie whispered and nodded at Steve.

"I was right. Skull rock was north." Dustin continued.

"Seriously? You're serious? This is skull rock-" Steve gestured to the rock behind him, "okay? You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong."

"Yes," Dustin leaned forward, "and no."

"Oh my god." Steve put his head in his hands.

"This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheeler's. It worked on Curly, but it started to slip the further east we went. Now, it's way off."

"So you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong." Steve shook his head.

"Except it isn't faulty. Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?"

Lucas widened his eyes in realization, "An electromagnetic field."

"I'm sorry, I must've skipped that class." Robin said.

"Either there's a super big magnet around here, or..." Valerie grinned and got up to wrap an arm around Dustin's shoulder, "there's a gate."