Chapter Text
Eddie:
Freezing cold aside, The Upside Down was a dead wringer for Mordor. Creepy lightning painting the sky in angry swaths of red? Check. Soot and toxic ash raining down around him? Check. It would have been a lot cooler if he wasn’t sluggishly bleeding out on the concrete, but that was kinda his fault. Dying a hero’s death wasn’t as glorious as books and movies made it out to be. It really fucking sucked, actually.
“Don’t go to sleep,” Dustin cradled Eddie’s head in his lap.
“You know, I always thought I was more of a Gimli?” Eddie sucked a pained breath in through clenched teeth.
He could feel the slow seep of blood from his belly. Dead bats littered the ground around them. That meant they had won, right? Eddie really fucking hoped they won.
“Oh yeah? Tell me why. Why are you a Gimli?”
“Well, there’s the whole long haired comic relief thing…and he’s also pretty good with an axe,” Eddie smirked.
Dustin had the decency to offer a teary smile for his shitty joke.
“Weird that I ended up as Boromir…” Eddie trailed off.
“You’re not Boromir. Do you hear me? I know you're tired,” Dustin shook him, gently. “I need you to keep your eyes open, okay?”
“You’re gonna be alright, Henderson,” Eddie blinked his eyelids apart. He wasn’t sure when he’d closed them.
“Just hold on a little longer. I know it hurts, but Steve and the others are on their way. We’re going to get you home.”
“Henderson, it’s gonna be alright,” Eddie whispered. Steve would get the kid back in one piece, he told himself. He didn’t need to keep fighting the tug of unconsciousness. Steve would get Dustin home.
“Eddie? EDDIE!”
The solid lines of the world softened. Every breath was harder to draw than the one before it. As the last of the colors faded out, Eddie could have sworn he heard Steve begging him to stay. He knew it wasn’t real. His brain was just using his crush on Steve Harrington to soften the blow of how truly fucked up this was. Even so, it was nice to have Steve with him, there, at the end of all things.
*********
Steve:
“Munson, what did I say!?”
Adrenaline turned to panic, bitter and thick in Steve’s mouth. He set Eddie on the grass a safe distance from the trailer and ripped his jacket off.
“Team one’s clear of the gate,” Nancy spoke frantically into the walkie-talkie. “I repeat, team one is clear. And we need an ambulance as fast as humanly possible. It's Eddie,” she clutched the radio with white knuckles.
“Why did you have to go and be a hero, huh? Why!?” Steve stared down at Eddie, limp and pale beneath his shaking hands. Eddie’s abdomen looked more like ground beef than human skin. Steve pressed his jacket firmly into the shredded mess, trying to focus.
Robin dropped to her knees on Eddie’s other side and clutched his wrist.
“Everybody, stay calm.” Nancy repeated the words over and over. Her voice broke too many times for it to be convincing.
The wail of the sirens echoed in the distance, but not loudly enough. They were still too far away.
“Steve,” Dustin sobbed, burying his face against Steve’s back. “Don’t let him die, Steve. Please, don’t let Eddie die.”
“Henderson, I can’t—” Steve didn't get the words out. His lungs burned from the breaths he couldn’t catch.
“I’m losing his pulse!” Robin looked up with wide, terrified eyes.
"This isn't happening," Dustin whimpered, tears soaking through Steve's shirt.
Steve reached down and slowly pushed the bandana off of Eddie’s forehead, smoothing his bangs back from where they stuck to sweat soaked skin. Grime covered Eddies cheeks, hiding the ghost of the dimples that lingered at the edge of his smiles. In that moment, Steve might have accepted all of Hawkins as collateral damage if it meant Eddie would open his big, brown Bambi eyes. The second the thought occurred to him, a hundred tiny moments settled into place behind it. He saw the last week with alarming clarity. How his heart stuttered at Eddie’s disregard for personal space, the way his stomach did gymnastic routines after Eddie’s shitty one-liners and his appalling attempts at flirting.
This couldn't be how it ended. After everything he'd been through, the demigorgan, the mind flayers, Russians, those fucking bats, all of that and for what? To lose Eddie before he had a chance to really find him?
The ambulance’s lights cast their faces in an eerie glow as it turned up the cracked asphalt road. Nancy ran to meet it, screaming something he couldn’t hear over the sirens.
"Bullshit," Steve choked back a sob. "This is absolute bullshit."