The Curse of Vecna: Rise of Kas

Epilogue

Over the past several weeks, Hopper and Murray worked tirelessly to clear Eddie's name. Now, they had finally accomplished just that and the group was planning a surprise party for their favorite vampire. Steve and Dustin were handling most of the preparations, but Robin and Nancy had made it a point to be just as involved. They each had their reasons for wanting to do this for Eddie, but above all, he simply deserved it.

Eddie, however, hadn't really believed it possible to get his name cleared. He had spent most of his time in hiding, trying to make sure he didn't cause any trouble for the rest of the group. A lot of people had moved away when the crevices had formed, but now that El had closed the gates and the seemingly endless gray clouds had left, people had started to move back. This made it increasingly difficult for Eddie to find good hiding places.

Today was different though. Eddie wasn't aware that they'd finally been successful and they planned to fully use that to their advantage. Hellfire Club had started their DnD sessions back up, and Eddie was still a big part of them. Dustin had to fib a bit about where Eddie had been and all that to the members of Hellfire that hadn't been part of the war for Hawkins. It was a lot easier to convince them he was telling the truth than he initially thought. So, of course, they decided to use a game of DnD to get Eddie to sneak back so they could surprise him.

Dustin and Steve spent an insane amount of time on decorations, checking and double-checking that everything was ready to go before Eddie got to the house. Will was in the process of setting up the dungeon for the game and Gareth kept rearranging different areas so they'd be 'Eddie-approved'.

"We're at T minus 5 minutes!" Dustin shouted, looking up from his watch. Everyone froze, mentally running through their personal checklists that needed to be done.

"For what?" The room erupted in screams as Eddie appeared behind Steve and Dustin, a grin spread across his face.

"The-uh.. The game to start." Dustin fumbled through the words, making Eddie's eyes narrow in suspicion. But he quickly shrugged it off as he walked over to the table Will and Gareth were adding the finishing touches to.

"That's some good work, guys. It looks really good." Eddie offered them a smile, but the boys just mumbled out a 'thank you' and kept looking at the board. "Did I piss everyone off somehow? Just tell me and I'll apologize."

No one spoke at first, mostly confused as to why Eddie would think he had done anything wrong. The realization hit Steve first who was quick to reassure Eddie that everything was fine, before leading him outside for some fresh air.

"You have to admit that everyone's acting really weird though, right? Like they're all avoiding me." Eddie lit a cigarette, looking in both directions for Robin to come slap it out of his hand, and then took a long drag when he knew it was safe.

"I could see why you feel that way, but I think everything's fine. They're all weird on a regular basis so this is really nothing new." Steve shrugged and picked at a friendship bracelet Dustin have given him. Dustin had given Eddie one as well, and he also never took his off.

"If you say so, man. Something just feels off." A truck pulled up and Hopper with Murray on his heels. "Hopper? Murray? What are you guys doing here?"

Steve internally facepalmed himself for taking Eddie to the front yard instead of the back. Why would Hopper and Murray come to a DnD session? Hopper openly glared at Steve before turning back to Eddie and raising his eyebrows.

"Steve said he needed help with his car and I figured I'd check in on El and see if she needed a ride home later or not." Steve could feel relief wash over him. Hopper was good at thinking on his feet when he needed to be.