"and i never saw you coming. and i'll never be the same."

★・・・・・・★

The five were at the store, getting food for Eddie while he was hiding out.

"Okay. We'll split up into groups," Steve said as they entered the store. Max stood by Amber, hoping to get paired with her.

"I'll go with Amber," Dustin said as he walked to stand next to her, also seeing how she didn't want to go with Max.

"Okay?" Steve questioned.

Robin went with Steve and Max while Dustin went with Amber.

"So," Dustin said while they walked down an isle together. "What's up?"

"Nothing," she said as they walked down the isle.

"Nothing, huh?"
"Nope."

"Can we talk about the... you know. Smoking?"

"I would rather not."

"Amber, we've been nothing but patient. You've been home for months."

"'Home.' It doesn't feel like home," she chuckled lightly as she put a can of Spaghettio's in the basket.

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't feel like home. Not anymore. I'm living with Lucas, my family is dead, there's a new family living in my old home, Callie is..." she stopped herself before giving away where her little sister was. "Callie is nowhere to be found, half of my friends live in a new state... Hawkins just doesn't feel like home to me anymore."

They met up with the others, checked out, and went on their way to Eddie.

-

Dustin busted the door open, frightening Eddie.

"Delivery service," Dustin smiled.

"So we got, uh, some good news and some bad news," Dustin said as Eddie munched on dry cereal. "How do you prefer it?"

"Bad news first, always."

"Alright. Bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."

"Like, 100% kind of convinced," Max said.

"And the good news?" Eddie asked.

"Your name hasn't gone public yet," Robin said. "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."

"Hunt the freak, right?"

"Exactly."
"Shit."

"So, before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence," Dustin explained as if it were normal.

"That's all, Dustin? That's all?"

"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it."

"Listen, Eddie, I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this kind of thing before," Robin tried reassuring the older boy. "I mean, they have a... a few times, and... and I have once. Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel we got this."

"Yeah, see, we usually rely on this girl who has superpowers," Steve explained. "But, uh, those went bye-bye, so..." Steve trailed off.

"And Amber had super powers, but the monster we had to fight and kill gave her them, so they also went bye-bye," Dustin explained for Amber.

"Unless, she still has them?" Steve suggested.

"Nope. Dustin was right," Amber said, trying to move the conversation along.

"So we're technically in more of the—"
"Kinda..."

"Brainstorming phase."

"There... There's nothing to worry about," Dustin smiled.

Max slightly looked over at Amber, more specifically her wrist, noticing her messing with the hair tie that covered the tattoo pretty well from the others. They started hearing police sirens, startling the teens.

"Shit."
"Tarp. Tarp."

Amber hurried over to Eddie, covering him with the tarp.

"Wait, wait, wait," Eddie said, stopping Amber for a second. "Did you really have superpowers?"

"Yup," she said. "But they're gone."

"Are you lying?"

"No. Just get under the tarp," she said, shoving him to lay down and covered him. She went over to the others, watching the police with them.

"Get in the car, now," Steve said, opening the door and leaving. They started following the police and eventually got to where they were.

They saw a white sheet in the middle of the road, immediately knowing that someone was killed. They saw Nancy talking to the police and a relieved look on her face once she saw them.

-

All of them were in the trailer park, sitting on a bench.

"So, you're saying that this thing that killed Fred and Chrissy, it's from the Upside Down?" Nancy asked.

"If the shoe fits," Amber mumbled.

"Our working theory is that he attack with a spell or a curse. Now, whether or not he's doing the bidding of the Mind Flayer or just loves killing teens, we don't know."

"All we know is that this is something different. Something new."

"It doesn't make sense."
"It's only a theory."

"No, Fred and Chrissy don't make sense. I mean, why them?"

"Maybe they were just in the wrong place. They were both at the game."

"And near the trailer park."

"We're at the trailer park," Steve said. "Uh, should we maybe not be here?"

"There is something about this place," Nancy said. "Fred started acting weird the second we got here."

"Acting weird as in...?"
"Scared, on edge, upset."

"Max said Chrissy was upset too."
"Yeah, but not here. She was crying in the bathroom at school."

"Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right? So maybe Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman—"

"Vecna," Dustin corrected.

"I dunno about you, but if I saw some freaky wizard monster, I would mention it to someone."

"Like when I saw the Mind Flayer for the first time," Amber pointed out. "I went to Lucas's house that night and told him."

"Maybe they did," Max realized. "I saw Chrissy leaving Ms. Kelley's office. If you saw a monster, you... you wouldn't go to the police. They'd never believe you. But you might go to your—"

"Your shrink," Robin said as Max nodded her head.

They all started walking to Steve's car, minus Nancy. She started walking towards her own, not telling them. Steve saw her, immediately wanting to question her.

"Whoa, whoa, Nance. Nance!" he called after her. "Nance, where you going?"

"Oh, there's just something I wanna check on first."

"Something you maybe wanna share with the rest of us?"

"I don't wanna waste your time. It's a real shot in the dark."

"Yeah, okay. Are you out of your mind? Flying solo with this Vecna creep on the loose? No, it's too dangerous. You need... You need someone to... Here. I'll stick with Nance, all right?" Steve said, throwing his keys to Robin. "You guys take the car, check out the shrink."

"I don't think you want me driving your car," she spoke.

"Why?"
"I don't have a license."

"Why."
"I'm poor."

"I can drive," Max suggested.

"No, never again. Please. Anybody but you. No," Steve said, Amber looking down and slightly smiling at the memory. Dustin made a face, wanting to drive. "No chance."

"All right, okay. This is stupid," Robin said, taking Dustin's walkie-talkie and giving Steve his keys back. "Us ladies will stick together. Unless you think we need you to protect us."

"Be careful," he said.

"You just gonna stand there and gawk?" Dustin smirked.
"Shut up."

"Why don't we go? Okay?" Dustin said, getting in the back with Max as Amber got in the front.

"Shut up and get in the car. Wipe your feet," Dustin proceeded to wipe his feet on the inside of the car. "On the outside, not the inside. Always the babysitter. Always the goddamn babysitter!"

-

The four sat in the car, trying to figure out who goes to the door, and talks with Ms. Kelley.

"No, Dustin, I'm not doing it!" Amber exclaimed.

"Why not? It's for a good cause."

"Because, I have refrained from telling her anything about the Upside Down now, and I am not breaking today. Plus, she scares me."

"It's for a good cause! Then we can stop Vecna and you can go back to playing My Little Ponies with Erica."

"First of all, I have never played My Little Ponies, especially with Erica Sinclair. Second of all, no. I want to stop Vecna, but I absolutely refuse to talk to her!"

"Can you guys stop fighting!" Max slightly yelled over the two. "I'll go," she said, getting out of the car and walking. She rang the doorbell and the door opened. She looked back at the car before going in.

"Okay. She's in."

"I'm missing collarbones, not eyes," Dustin reminded him.

"So," Steve started, "Why can't we just channel Amber's powers and, you know, kill Vecna?"

"Because I don't have them anymore, Steve," Amber snapped. "Can we drop that idea?"

"Okay, but—"

"No! No 'buts'! Just drop the goddamn idea!"

"But it's a good idea."

"Oh, my God," Amber murmured, getting out of the car.

"Wait, wait, wait," Steve spoke. "Where are you going?"

"Away from this... this conversation," she said as she slammed the car door.

Dustin and Steve watched her as she walked down the sidewalk and sat on a bus stop bench. She pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them. Dustin turned to Steve from his seat in the back and gave him a small glare.

"She's been through a lot in the past year, Steve. Her family died, her little sister went missing, and people from the Hawkins Lab kidnapped and experimented on her. She might still have her powers, but as you can tell, she doesn't like talking about them. I'm gonna go talk to her," Dustin said as he left the car. Steve stared ahead, trying to take in what he just heard.

"Hey, Amber," Dustin said as he approached Amber whose head was up at the sun.

"Hi," she quietly said.

"I'm sorry for Steve's behavior."

"It's fine. He doesn't know."

"But I know," he admitted. "Lucas... he tells me and Mike some things that you tell him.

"I know."

"Wait, you know? How?"

"Lucas isn't the most quiet person in the world," Amber said, lightly chuckling. "You know, when I was there... in that place... I thought about you guys a lot."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I always thought, 'What would Dustin do?' or, 'What would Lucas do?' Stuff like that. If I didn't think that... I might not be here right now."

"Don't say that."

"It's true. What they did to me... it was not humane. It very much sucked. I didn't think I'd make it out of there alive."

"Is that why you and Max aren't together anymore?"

"No. No, it's more complicated than that."

"Amber, you can't even be in the same room as her. You get uncomfortable. The energy changes."

There was a beep, causing the two to lookup. They saw Steve and Max in the car.

"Let's go, get in," Steve said as Max looked back to make sure Ms. Kelley wasn't watching.

"What'd she say?" Dustin asked as he climbed in the back.

"Nothing, just drive," Max pushed.

"Dustin. It's Lucas. Do you copy?" Lucas spoke from the walkie-talkie. "Dustin."

"Lucas? Where the hell have you been?"

"Just listen. Are you guys looking for Eddie?"

"Yeah, and we found him, no thanks to you."

"You found him?"

"He's at a boat house on Coal Mill Road. Don't worry. He's safe."

"You guys know he killed Chrissy, right?"

"That's bullshit. Eddie tried to save Chrissy."

"Then why do the cops say he did it?"

"Jesus, Lucas, you're so behind it's ridiculous, okay?" Amber said, taking the walkie-talkie from Dustin. "Just meet us... where?" Amber asked Max.

"School."

"Just meet us at school. We'll explain later."

"I... I can't. I think some real bad shit's about to go down."

"What are you talking about? What bad shit? Lucas? Lucas?"

Well, shit.

-

"Dustin, do you copy?" Robin's voice came from the walkie.

"Yeah, I copy."

"So, Nancy's a genius. Vecna's first victims date back all the way to 1959. Her shot in the dark was a bull's-eye."

"Okay, that's totally bonkers, but I can't really talk right now."

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"Breaking and entering into school to retrieve confidential and extremely personal files," he said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Can you repeat that?"

"Just get your ass over here, stat. We'll explain everything."

Max shoved the key into the hole and unlocked the door. They went inside, immediately seeing the file cabinet.

"It's like a mini Watergate or something. Hawkinsgate," Dustin looked around.

"Didn't those guys get caught?" Steve asked.

"Holy shit," Max said, making Amber go over to where she was standing. Max's breath hitched as she felt her presence.

"What?"
"You found it?"

"Yeah, and not just Chrissy's file. Fred was seeing Ms. Kelley too."

She opened Chrissy's file and gave Amber Fred's file. She started looking through it, finding nothing interesting. Amber slightly looked over at Max, seeing her look confused.

"Can I see Fred's file?" Max asked.

"Yeah," Amber replied, giving her the papers.

What Max saw were the same symptoms that she's been having. Headaches, nosebleeds, nightmares, past trauma...

"Max? What is it?"

"Max?" Amber said, looking at the redhead in front of her. "Max. Max!" Amber started shaking her shoulders, trying to get her to wake up. She was staring ahead, eyes slightly glossed over. "Max! Wake up, Max!"