Chapter Text
One moment, Steve was hanging onto the edge of the boat, treading water.
The next, he was gone.
“Steve!”
“No no no!”
“Steve!”
“What the hell was that, man?” Eddie yelled. He didn’t really know who he was asking, but something had just pulled Harrington under the water, and he was new to all this shit. The others were not, but they were panicking too.
Robin leant further over the edge of the boat, hands scrambling desperately in the cold water. Steve was gone, and it was too dark to see anything in the water. Her voice shook as she turned to the person she had put in charge. The one who seemed to always have all the answers. “Nancy, really, what happened?”
“Jesus!” Jonathan shouted, pushing past Robin to look into the water. He was greeted only by his own reflection in the black surface.
Nancy was silent, breathing fast, mind working at ten times its normal speed. She had no answer for Robin, but what she did know was that Steve had been pulled down by something. And the only thing at the bottom of that lake was the gate.
If he was going in, so was she.
She lunged for the edge of the boat, clinging onto the lip of the wood as she prepared herself to jump forwards. A voice stopped her.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Jonathan cried, throwing an arm out as though to hold her back. “You’re not going in there, are you?”
Oh she absolutely was. It only took one quick glance back at the water to decide that she was going to jump in.
“Just… wait here.” Nancy ordered, not waiting another second before she leapt into the water and plunged below the icy surface, Robin and Eddie’s cries of her name disappearing behind her.
“Goddamn it!” Eddie cursed. Now two people were facing whatever was down there. And a third seemed about to follow.
“Nancy!” Jonathan shouted, watching the water splash behind her, his girlfriend already swallowed by the black water. “Shit,” he swore, staring down into the water as though his glare would be enough to bring her back. It wasn’t.
He took a split second to make his decision. He wasn’t much of a swimmer, but he wasn’t about to leave Nancy and Steve to brave the gate alone. He copied Nancy’s motion into the water, holding in his gasp at the shock of the cold water.
“Fuck you, Byers,” Eddie cried, looking back out towards the bank. Were the kids seeing this? When he looked back, he saw Buckley slowly sliding towards the edge of the boat. No. Not another one.
“No no no no no no.”
Buckley was already sitting on the edge of the boat. Eddie switched to logic.
“What are you doing? She said wait.”
“Yeah. I heard her.” Nancy could have told Robin to shoot herself for all she cared. She wasn’t going to follow any of her orders, not when Steve had just been dragged down by something. Dragged right towards the gate.
She was going after him. After them.
Eddie was getting more frantic.
“She’s in charge.”
“Are you kidding me?” Robin said, resolution settling over her. “I made that shit up.”
“Don’t you go. Don’t you-“ Eddie reached out a hand to stop her, but it was too late. Robin was already tipping back, one hand pinching her nose, and before he could even touch her she was in the water, disappearing with a splash like the others had.
Only one left. Goddamn it.
“Goddam it!” Eddie screamed, vocalising his thoughts. He did not want to go into that water. He did not want to swim down and see whatever horrors were waiting for him at the bottom.
But, Christ, he could hardly be the only one left in the boat.
“Son of a bitch!”
Right. Guess he had to go down after them. Eddie struggled to his feet.
“Oh, this is so stupid. This is so stupid.”
The boat rocked dangerously under him as he stepped towards the edge. Jesus, had the water always looked so uninviting, or was that a result of the discovery of the gate?
“This is so stupid!”
Eddie stepped on foot onto the side of the boat, feeling it tip forwards under his weight.
“Shit, shit, shit.”
He dived messily into the water. Fuck, it was cold.
———
They were all through the gate.
Exactly where he wanted them to be.
But, nonetheless, the first phase of his plan had failed.
No matter. He would adapt. He would make sure that the rest of his plan went exactly how he intended it to.