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Our first clue that Vecna may have survived the battle comes when Nancy, Steve, and Robin go downstairs to where his body should be – but he’s not there. Then Will, back in Hawkins, says he can feel his presence, and the hairs on the back of his neck spike. He tells Mike that their battle is far from over: "Now that I’m here in Hawkins, I can feel him and he’s hurting but he’s still alive. It’s strange knowing now who it was this whole time." We don’t know where Vecna is hiding but you can almost guarantee that he’ll be back – and probably more powerful than ever. For more, check out our deep dive on who dies in Stranger Things season 4, Volume 2. In the final moments, we see a young girl say it's raining. But in fact, it’s the particles from the Upside Down, showing that the dimension is beginning to bleed into Hawkins. This is all part of Vecna’s plan – he wants to see his world combine with ours. "Hawkins will burn and fall, with the rest of this senseless, broken world," he tells Eleven. "I will be there to pick up the pieces when it does and remake it into something beautiful." Nancy has seen what this will look like, Vecna having showed her a vision of his plan. She told the others at the time: "I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins, downtown on fire, dead soldiers, and this giant creature with a gaping mouth. There were so many monsters, an army and they were coming into Hawkins." The first evidence of this the gang looking around and the world draining of color, plants dying all around them, and Hawkins burning in the distance. In the finale, Vecna tells Max that she’s much braver than her brother Billy was, confirming that he was linked to the Mind Flayer – it appears Vecna was essentially the captain, and the Mind Flayer was an instrument of destruction. Vecna confirms this when he tells Eleven what happened to him after he was forced into the Upside Down. He was lost, wandering the dimension when he came across the beast, which looked just like the spiders he had befriended as a child. Vecna takes control of the entity, using its power to enact out his vengeful plan. While we didn’t meet the series' true antagonist until season 4, he’s been calling the shots this whole time. And as Brenner/Papa says, he’s been getting stronger. When Hopper and Joyce were in Russia, all they knew was that their children were in danger, but they didn’t know from what. But when they reconcile with Eleven, it seems they’ve been filled in on what went down. It’s possible that Owens’ colleague who dropped them off told them what happened, or maybe they don’t know everything just yet. In the next season, we could see some more exposition on this, but it’s not clear if this will happen off-camera. The last we saw of Murray, Enzo, and Uri, they were being whisked off in a helicopter back to the US. While we don’t see them again in the final episode, it seems pretty certain that they also made it to the States. What we don’t yet know is what the repercussions will be for the Russians – or if we’ll see them again in season 5. It’s possible that they’ll be given immunity for their help saving Joyce and Hopper.Aside from Eddie, a news report confirms that 22 people have died, as well as countless others being in hospital and missing. One character we know who is among the dead is Jason, whose body was ripped in half when the gates to the Upside Down opened. However, it’s not yet clear if anyone else we know is among the victims yet. Will is keeping a secret, but he’s not ready to share what it is yet. In episode 8, he opens up to Mike about feeling different from other people. He tells his best friend with tears in his eyes: "When you’re different, sometimes you feel like a mistake." Jonathan speaks to him later about this in the Surfer Boy Pizza kitchen as he reassures him that he’ll love him no matter what. Will clearly doesn’t feel ready to share whatever it is he’s hiding yet, but it’s a beautiful moment between the brothers.The Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve love triangle has been around since the first season, but the events of season 4 have made everything more complicated. Steve and Nancy grew closer, with Steve confessing he still had feelings for her. Before Nancy could reply, they were interrupted so we don’t yet know if she returns these. Jonathan has also been struggling with how he feels about Nancy, as he told Argyle he’s yet to apply to the same college as her as he doesn’t know if he wants them to stay together. By the end of the season, they’ve reconciled but a lot is left unsaid. Just catch Steve’s heartbroken look as they hug when Jonathan returns to Hawkins and you’ll know there’s a lot more to tell about their story. The last time we saw these two was back in Nevada when Sullivan ordered the kill shot on Eleven. She survived by taking down the helicopter and managed to escape with the Surfer Boy Pizza gang. There was a big explosion, and Sullivan steps outside of Brenner's labs and see the Pizza truck driving off – unable to catch them as his form of transport has just been blown up. No doubt he will be back in season 5. Dr. Owens' fate is a little more confused, as we don't know whether he survived the attack in the lab, or even if he managed to escape from his handcuffs. We'll have to wait and see, though he is perhaps one of the less key characters in this story.There is no Stranger Things season 4, Volume 2 post-credits scene. There was a sort-of post-credits scene mid-way through the season, but there's no tag at the end. Instead, we're left to think about Eleven and the gang looking over a burning Hawkins, with no sign of exactly what happens next.