Wednesday, 26th March, 1986

WHEN SHE SPOTTED HIM, HER HEART stopped. She called out his name and he tried to turn to her, but two giant bat creatures were chewing on his abdomen and one had its tail wrapped around his neck.

She suppressed a worried scream and instead jumped to action, not yet noticing that Eddie, Nancy and Robin had all turned up as well.

She pulled out her gun, running over and shooting the creature on his side before beginning to rip the other one off.

Robin ran over, holding the bat around his neck down with an oar whilst Bea tried to rip it off with her bare hands but it wasn't working.

Eddie was holding another oar, beating off the bats until he saw one coming for Nancy. He called out for her and he turned around.

It was too late as the bat had attached itself to her back and Robin began to pull it off of the girl, leaving Steve and Bea for a second to fend for themselves.

His eyes were wide as they met with hers, both of them realising the gravity of the situation.  Steve had managed to grab it by the tail, biting into it so that it let go of his neck, Bea shooting it.

They were all breathless once they had managed to kill the three nats terrorising them, Steve beating one to death, spitting out the blood.

"Steve," she whispered as she rushed over, the boy all but collapsing in her arms, his hand on her shoulders for stability.

She pulled away from him, brows furrowed as she looked over his body, her eyes frozen on the two chunks missing from his abdomen.

"Oh god," she said, one hand still on his shoulder, as the other came up to her mouth, unable to contain the gasp "are you okay?"

"Well, they took a pound of flesh but other than that, I'm okay," he said, "What the hell were you thinking baby? Jumping down here like this?"

Bea scoffed, "What was I thinking? That I wasn't going to let the love of my life die, thats what I was thinking. And I was right to come down here," she exclaimed, annoyed that he was annoyed at her.

"You should have stayed on the boat, I would have been fine. I would have found a way to come back to you," he said, his voice raised slightly.

"And what if you hadn't?" She asked, her voice breaking as tears welled up in her eyes, "I can't lose you,"

"I know, I know baby. I'm sorry," he said, taking her hand in his, "I shouldn't have raised my voice, I was just so worried about you,"

"Promise me you won't die on me Harrington," Bea said, holding her pinger out towards him. He chuckled, interlocking his finger with hers

"Sorry, but uh, do you guys think these bats have like, rabies?" Robin asked and they turned to her, "Because I think we should get you to a doctor soon because once the symptoms set in, it's too late, you're already dead,"

She was interrupted by the screeching of monsters nearby, the group turning to watch as they began to approach. They all watched as it came to the hole they just came through, meaning they couldn't get back through.

"The woods, come on," Nancy called out and they all began running into the woods, away from the enslaught of bats in the distance.

They ran to skull rock, taking refuge there as the bats flew overhead. She grasped Steves hand tight, not willing willing let go of him any time soon.

When they left, they emerged. Steve collapsed on the wall, swearing under his breath, "Steve!" Bea exclaimed, rushing to his side.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said weakly, leaning his back against the wall.

"No you're not Steve, you're losing blood," she said, helping him down so he was sitting on the rock beneath.

He sighed, hand moving away from his side and her breath hitched in her throat at the sight, trying not to feel sick at the large bite she saw.

"Oh Steve," she whispered before ripping off some of her shirt, watching as Robin walked over.

"Okay, so the good news is that I'm pretty sure wooziness is not a symptom of rabies," Robin said, rambling, "But if you start to have hallucinations or muscle spasms, or you feel aggressive let me know,"

He cut her off with a soft mutter of her name, "Robin, I kinda wanna punch you," he said and she laughed, "Also, I need to talk to my girlfriend for a second, about the thing,"

Robin's eyes went wide and she chuckled, "Okay, it's not very romantic but we'll wait over there," she said, a grin on her face as she walked over to the group.

"Sit up for a second Steve, this is gonna hurt," Bea said and he moved away from the wall, wincing as she wrapped it tightly around his waist, "I'm sorry,"

She tied it around his waist, her eye meeting his, "Baby," he whispered, hand coming up to rest on her cheek.

"You're gonna be fine Steve, you're gonna be okay," she said, her voice breaking as she said the words, trying to convince herself more than anyone.

"I want you to marry me," he said and she looked up at him, eyes wide.

"What the hell," she muttered. Bea was in shock. Her hands were shaking as they rested on his chest and she didn't know what to say.

"I've been planning to ask you to move in with me for months but now, now I just want to call you mine forever," he said and she let out a choked sob, not knowing what to say.

"You're not good with timing are you. First you kissed me when you thought you were going to be killed by those demodogs-" she started and he cut her off.

"First off, you kissed me. And second," he said, leaning in, "Is that a yes?"

Bea nodded, a tear running down her cheek but he just brushed it away with the pad of his thumb, "Yes Steve Harrington, a million times yes," she said, a wide grin on her face, "You're not just saying this cause you're scared to die right,"

"Sure, I'm scared to die. But I will always want to marry you, call you my Mrs Harrington," he said and she blushed, leaning in to connect her lips with his before pulling away.

"You taste like blood," she said, scrunching her face up in disgust as she remembered what had happened earlier with him biting the bats, "We should probably get back to the group,"

"So uh, this place is like Hawkins but with monsters and nasty shit?" Eddie asked, looking around at the scene.

"Pretty much," Nancy said before looking over at Bea and Steve, "You two okay? You had a long chat over there,"

"Yeah, it hurts but that's not important. What is important is that you are looking at the future Mrs Harrington," Steve said with a weak smile, pressing a kiss to his now fiancé's temple.

Robin smiled, clapping but she didn't notice the way Nancy's face dropped at the announcement, "I'm so excited. I thought you were just going to ask her to move in but this is way better," Robin said.

"Watch out for the vines Eddie, they're a hive mind. They all join together in a symbiotic way, you step on a vine then you're stepping on a bat and you're stepping on Vecna," Bea explained and he froze.

"Wow Mrs Harrington, that sucks," Eddie said, walking down carefully, "Well congrats guys but your timing currently sucks. Nobody is getting married if we're stuck down here,"

Robin yelped and everyone turned to her, "I have an idea! If everythings the same down here as it is up there, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and everything we need to blow up the gate," she explained.

"I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades Robin," Steve said, "But guns, yeah sure,"

Bea looked at Nancy, "We don't have to go all the way downtown for guns," Nancy said, "I have guns, in my bedroom,"

"You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?" Eddie asked.

"A Russian Makarov and a revolver," Nancy explained and Eddie threw his jacket at Steve.

"For your modesty dude," he said and Steve smiled, putting it on

Before he could answer, the ground began to shake. Steve grabbed Bea by the waist, holding her tight as he leant against the wall for support. Nancy and Robin were holding hands, Eddie trying to keep the three steady but they fell to the ground.

They heard the yells of creatures in the distance before they made the walk to the Wheeler household.

She walked with Robin and Bea, listening to the small talk between Steve and Eddie in the back. They seemed to be getting along well, talking about Dustin, the future, stuff like that.

When they made it to Nancy's house, she opened the door, looking at the foyer of her house being overridden by vines.

They walked up the stairs, Bea not noticing that Steve had stayed behind. Nancy pulled out a shoe box, realising thar they weren't there.

"Nancy, those are your cards for sophomore chemistry, aren't they?" Bea questioned.

Nancy nodded, realising her room was the same as two years ago. She flicked through her diary and looked at the date. November 6th 1983.

"I think the reason my guns aren't here is because they don't exist yet," she explained, the group looking confused, "The last entry in my diary is the day will went missing, the day the gate opened. We're in the past,"

Then they heard Steve yelling for Dustin downstairs and Bea rushed down, watching as her boyfriend - fiancée - roamed around, yelling her brothers name to an empty room.

"Maybe he really does have rabies," Robin suggested.

"What are you doing Steve?" Bea asked and he turned to the other four.

"He's here, your brother, the little shit he's here! In the walls or something, just listen," Steve said and it went quiet and then they heard Dustins voice echo through the room.

"Will found a way to speak to Joyce through the light," Bea said and she walked over to the chandelier, touching the shiny particles near it, watching them glow.

"Whoa," Eddie said and the group walked over, all of them touching the particles, making the lights shine, "It kind of tickles,"

"Does anyone know morse code?" Nancy asked and Bea swore under her breath, she really should remember it better but she couldn't, it had been years since she used it.

"Does SOS count?" Eddie asked and the group looked at him, "Is that, is that good?"

He started to tap it in and they heard Dustin, "Remember when I said said wouldn't be stupid enough to go to water gate, I overestimated them," he said, his voice like an echo.

Dustin told them of his plan and rhey went to Nancy's room, grabbing Holly's toy and turning it on.

They all chuckled, watching the lights glow, "Try it now," Dustin called out and they spelled hi, hearing Erica, Lucas and Dustin laugh at the success. 

They all cheered and Bea spelt out 'stuck', listening to the group repeat it after them, "You can't get back through water gate?" Dustin questioned.

Bea spelt out 'guarded' and they repeated it again.

"We think we have a theory that can help with that," Dustin said, "We think that there's a gate at every murder site,"

"Does anybody understand what he's talking about?" Nancy asked and they all shook their heads, Bea drawing a question mark on the board.

Dustin groaned, "Seriously? How many times do I have to be right on the money before you trust me?" He asked.

"Jesus Christ, this kids gotta get his ego in check," Steve said, Bea nodding her head.

"It's his tone right?" Eddie stated and the three agreed, all knowing different sides of Dustin that were all the same..

"How far is your trailer?" Bea asked him and he explained that it would be seven miles away.

"Uh, I know your house here is like weirdly frozen in time and shit Nance but haven't you always had bikes?" Robin suggested.

Before they knew it, they were on their bikes, cycling through town, past the Creel house and other parts of town. Bea found it weird that it was all here, frozen on the date that everyhing went wrong.

They walked into Eddie's trailer, looking at the gap in the ceiling that was glowing red, like a closed portal.

"This is where Chrisst died, like right where she died," he explained and rhen a hand popped through the hole, everyone yelling.

Then they looked up and it was Dustin, Lucas, Max and Erica on the other side but upside down. They all laughed at the insanity of the situation.

On the other side, Dustin tied together bedsheets, Max and Lucas bringing Eddie's mattress to fall on.

"Not quite sure how these physics will work but here goes nothing," Dustin said, throwing it up and they both had different sides of it.

Robin went up first, falling onto the mattress as she fell through the hole. She laughed as she lay there, then got back up again.

Eddie went up next, landing with a smile on his face, Nancy then the next one to go up.

Steve chuckled, "See you on the other side, fiance," he said with a joking tone.

"Whoa, hold up there! Fiance?" Dustin questioned, looking down at the two.

"We'll explain it later Dustin," Bea said before grabbing onto the makeshift rope, about to climb up, Steve helping her.

Then it felt like she was falling, gliding down a black hole and she landed on her back in starcourt mall, standing in the hall alone.

She was alone but she could see Billy's dead body lying there, blood seeping from it. Around her was he brother, Steve, Robin, Jonathan, Will, all the people she loved and they were all dead.

She let out a sob, wanting to just go home and live a normal life, not have to relive the worst memories she had.

On the other side, Steve was shaking her, "Bea! Wake up, wake up!" He called out, hands grasping her shoulders in a panic.

He started to hum Africa, remembering that she used to love that song but it wasn't working, he began yelling up song suggestions, his heart pounding.

You were watching as Vecna explained all about himself. He was 001, the first test subject if Dr Brenner and before that, he was Henry Creel, the youngest son of Victor Creel.

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