Chapter Text
They had won.
One minute Nancy and her friends had been battling the Mind Flayer once more in the dark twisted remnants of Hawkins, fighting behind rubble and ruins and firing back with what little ammo they had left in their weapons. It had looked hopeless. The next second, a bright light blinded them all. And when they could see once more, it had wiped away all traces of the Upside Down. The darkness disappeared, the monsters vanished and the Upside Down had been sealed away.
Eleven had done it. She had killed Vecna, closed and destroyed the gate. They had ended their horrors once and for all.
Gradually, her group ambled away from Hawkins (no longer covered in the dark vines and spores of the Upside Down) and back up towards Hoppers’ Cabin - their agreed upon rendezvous point. They all sported wounds, scars and bruises from their fight against the monsters, wiping away bloody gashes whilst they shuffled through the deserted woods.
Nancy trailed at the back of their shabby party, staring at the ground with blank eyes as she shuffled behind the others on autopilot. She was numb, blind to the world around her. She didn’t care about how dirty they all were, or what a mess her hair was, or even that she had left her shotgun back in Hawkins. It didn't matter to her that they had won.
Jonathan was gone.
She had raced back to the high school the moment the monsters had vanished, frantically looking for any sign that he had returned, screaming his name in the hope he would answer her. But there was only silence, telling her that her boyfriend would not be back. The boy she loved had given his life to save her. To save them all. It wasn't fair.
She couldn't forget the sight of Jonathan in the window, turning away from her to draw off the monsters on their heels as she pleaded for him to stay. She felt the pain stab into chest, and yet she couldn't grimace or react. She couldn't bring herself even to cry at the memory of his final words to her before he left. It was agony. The sadness she felt that wouldn’t even let her cry!
It wasn't fair. It wasn’t fair!
They had been through so much together over the years. So much violence, and fear, and moments where the world tried to tear them apart. Even when it looked like they were on the verge of falling apart, they had only ended up closer together. They fought so hard about Emerson - something so stupid and meaningless in the grand scheme of things that she hated herself for letting it drive a wedge between them.
But that day in the forest.... Where he apologized, and told her how much he loved her. Where she forgave him, and promised that they'd always be together. Where their love had been cemented as not just a teenage relationship but as their forever. It had been perfect, giving them the chance to make up for their year apart even as the world crumbled around them. They were fighting their most deadly enemy yet; but with Jonathan by her side, things had never seemed so dire that they couldn’t work it out together.
It had been just like the old day when they first fell in love - the two of them searching for clues, preparing to fight an evil together. And in spite of the fear at their situation, there had been so many moments of love between them. When he cuddled with her at night, an slow danced with her to romantic music, and even when they had gotten drunk with Steve and Robin like regular kids. And last night, when they made love slowly, revelling in one anothers presence with confessions of love one each others.
But now he was gone. One minute he was with her, and the next he was gone. Just like that. All because he decided that he would give his life in exchange for hers. How dare he be such a selfless loving idiot!
If he truly was...dead... Nancy prayed that it had been quick. The thought of him suffering, dying in pain, made her heart break even more than it had already.
Of course he had sacrificed himself. That's just how he was. Moral, kind, thinking of literally anything other than his own happiness and wellbeing. No thought, no fear; just the hope that she would be saved.
This was meant to be the start of their new life together, completely free from all. She and Jonathan would be together again, and would carve out their own future. They would go to college, see the world, pursue their dreams. And when the time was right, when they were both ready, Nancy would marry him.
Nancy never wanted to limit herself by having this idealized dream of a ‘happily ever after’ like other girls. But with Jonathan, she found herself believing in that more and more. Longing for it when he was so far apart from her. It became a secret fantasy of hers, giving the hope to keep on fighting even when it looked like all was lost.
She had always looked at being a wife and mother as a cage, and lived in fear of that being her fate. Jonathan had made her look at that with new eyes; they would find a way to have a family and live their dreams, without compromise and without sadness. It was a thought that made her happier than she ever thought it could have.
Until it was ripped away from her, tearing a piece of her soul away in the process.
No more stealing his shirts and sweaters, and staying up late night watching films like Blade Runner and the Karate Kid in his bed. No more waking up in the morning and eating breakfast together, trying to hide the lipstick marks on his face and hickeys on her neck from their parents with blushes on their cheeks. No more sitting on her roof and talking about whatever until the early hours of the morning. No more long calls over the telephone when they were apart.
No more waking up and looking at his face of the boy she loved, Knowing that she had found her person.
Nancy wanted to cry forever. To scream at the everything around her. To find God and blow his brains out with a shotgun for taking away the person she loved more than anything else in the world. For breaking her heart beyond repair.
But now all she could do is stare at her feet with dead eyes. The blisters on her soles tore at her skin as she blankly followed the others, but she barely registered the pain. There were scrapes and scars on her body, but Nancy couldn't care. Nothing could compare to the emptiness inside her.
"Are you alright?" She slowly glanced up to see Robin looking at her with concern.
"No." Nancy mumbled back emotionlessly.
Robin had become a close friend in the last few months. But she couldn’t understand what it was like for her to lose Jonathan. Luckily, she didn't press her about it and moved forward to walk with Steve and Eddie.
She could barely see the outline scar on her hand anymore. It had faded over the years into her hands, no matter how many times she had picked up the scab to keep it prominent, else that special connection they shared began to disappear. Yet the outline always remained.
When she looked at it now, she could barely see it. She wasn’t even sure that it was there anymore.
It was like it had been torn away from her when Jonathan….
"They're here! They're okay!" She suddenly heard a shout from up ahead, making their group look up. The rest of their crazy family standing by the cabin.
Will. Mike. Hopper. Joyce. Eleven. Even Murray. All alive. All okay.
Dustin, Lucas and Max immediately surged ahead to where the three other teens were racing towards them. With laughter and grins, the six teens pulled each other into hugs under the relieved and proud eyes of Joyce and Hopper. After everything they'd been through, they deserved their happiness. They could finally be happy now that the Upside Down was no more. Even Steve, Eddie and Robin were smiling at the sight of the younger ones chatting excitedly about their survival.
Nancy stood at the back. She couldn't speak to them. She couldn't face Will and Joyce, and tell them she'd watched Jonathan run to his death. She wanted to just break away and escape from-
"Wait, where's Jonathan?"
Nancy reluctantly looked up to see Will's face. He had turned to face her, eyes flittering around the clearing to see where his brother was.
When he saw her heartbroken expression, his smile slowly dropped. His eyes widened, his face turned white. He knew what had happened, deep down.
The mood immediately changed in the clearing. Everyone went silent.. Those that knew what had happened looked down at the ground. The rest quickly realized why one of their party was missing.
"Where is he?" Will asked again, his voice shaking. He was beginning to realize what it meant that his brother wasn't here.
Joyce slowly walked up towards her, like she was afraid to hear the answer. Like she already knew what it was. Nancy had to stare at the problem, scared to look up and destroy the woman who had been through so much. But Joyce lifted her face up to look at her.
One look from Joyce, full of the heartwrenching pain of a mother, was enough to push Nancy over the edge. The truth finally sank in. She couldn't stop the tears spilling uncontrollably and she finally began to weep. She dove into Joyce’s arms, as the pain overtook her and she buried her face into the small women’s coat. The tears flowed freely down her face, soaking her face, and she shuddered as the pain she felt overwhelmed her at last.
"Oh god no!" Joyce let out a wail of agony of her own against her shoulder, clutching Nancy just as hard for dear life. Nancy had seen with her own eyes how much Joyce had cared for Jonathan, and her suffering at the loss of her eldest son only made Nancy more guilty at letting him die for them. She squeezed her eyes shut; she didn't dare imagine the pain of Joyce's face.
"He sacrificed himself so we could get here. We wouldn't have made it without him. He saved us all." Steve said thickly to the rest of the group.
It didn’t soften the blow. It didn’t make anything better. It just made Nancy cry even harder, as the memories of his heartbreaking goodbye and her final sight of him running away from her flooded her mind and sent a stab of pain deep into her heart.
"No! No, No!" Will was practically screaming as the tears fell. Jonathan had loved his brother with such kindness through all their shit, looking after him like a brother and a father. Will’s spirit would be crushed now that his brother was gone.
Nancy tried to look up through her tears, to see that Eleven had pulled Will into a hug, cradling his head as he shook and cried his heart out. El was weeping herself; she had just lost a brother of her own.
All the cheer and relief everyone had felt a minute ago was gone. The rest of the kids and Hopper looked solemnly at the ground, with the older guy having to turn away to hide his face from the others. The loss of one of them, especially someone loved so much by his family, hit them all hard. Murray had turned to the cabin and slammed his fist into the wall with an angry obscenity.
Even Steve was visibly close to tears, Robin placing a hand on his back. She knew that the two of them had become close friends the last few weeks, which had made her so happy, but now it just hurt even more that he had been taken from her.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" Nancy sobbed into Joyce's shoulder.
"It’s okay.” Joyce managed to choke back through her own tears. Trying to be a mom even when she was mourning the loss of her child.
It wasn’t okay. She didn't know if it ever would be okay again.
"Is there a body?” Hopper asked quietly, bringing up the question nobody had dared to ask.
"We don't know.” Steve’s sad voice made Nancy almost collapse in grief.
Another funeral without a body. First Barb. And now…her Jonathan.
For a minute, not another word was said. The world around them was dead silent;. The only sound for miles was the grief of the Byers and Nancy. Somehow, that made everything worse.
But they were never lucky enough to be left alone. The rustling of leaves to Nancy's left suddenly captured her attention. The sound of heavy, fast approaching footsteps. A dark figure in the distance, getting closer and closer.
Oh fuck.
A Demogorgon, bloody and disfigured but still breathing and very pissed, burst out of the bushes. Its spine chilling roar echoed through the woods around them. Nancy was thrust back in time to the very first occasion they had fought one of them And it was still just as terrifying as ever. Clutching Joyce, she stumbled back quickly along with everybody else.
"Shoot it!" Dustin shrieked and scrambled away from the incensed creature.
"We're out of bullets!" Max shouted back, throwing her empty pistol onto the ground.
She was right. They had used their bullets in the fight. Now they were completely defenseless. Aside from -
"El!" Mike called out to the psychic teen, their last bastion of defense. .
"I can't." The girl cried back helplessly. Killing Vecna had clearly taken a lot out of her. Who knows if she even had any powers left?
"Oh, fuck!" Murray exclaimed. Hopper pushed the kids behind him and stood before them protectively. They were in big trouble. Nancy looked around desperately, trying to find something they could use.
The Demogorgon stalked closer to her, zeroing in on her as she nudged Joyce and Will behind her, trying to shield them as best they could. If she couldn't protect Jonathan, she would do everything she could to keep the family he loved so much alive.
The creature gargled viciously. It's rotten teeth salivated. It took a step forward and-
BANG
The sudden massive gunshot they heard jolted them all. Its crack echoed all around them, sending a huge gasp around the empty woods. Nancy flinched, and ducked her head down with instinct.
When she looked up again, the Demogorgon was still. Unmoving and silent. And it had a massive hole blown straight through its head, dripping blue blood down its slimy face. Two of its petals had been completely sheared off at the force of the bullet that had rocketed through it.
The creature slowly collapsed to its knees, then keeled over and onto the ground.
"Get away from my girlfriend!"
Everybody's wide eyes followed the sound of the gritty shout, nobody able to speak in shock with what had just happened.
She knew that voice.
Nancy stared with wide eyes, blinking through her tears, daring to hope that maybe…just maybe….
Standing just behind the corpse of the Demogorgon stood someone in the treeline. They tossed their gun aside, and slowly inched their way forward closer to the group, looking wounded and exhausted. They got closer and closer, Until they were right there in full view of everybody.
Nancy thought she was dreaming. Hallucinating, going mad with grief. She gaped as the figure turned towards her.
"Hi, Nance." Jonathan said with the lopsided grin and gentle voice she'd come to know and love.
His long hair was torn and matted, but still the same dusky locks she had stroked affectionately while they cuddled in bed together.
His clothes had been torn and stained with dirt, but she recognised his old white Talking Heads t-shirt that she’d made him wear that morning for ‘good luck’ even if the sleeves had been ripped and stained.
A red streak of blood ran down the left side of his face. But it couldn’t hide his handsome face or dark eyes that she’d fallen in love with here in Hawkins. The features she’d memorized through the hours she spent thinking of him, or looking at the pictures she’d taken of him so that a piece of him was always with her.
She had thought him dead, but there was no doubt in her mind. This was her Jonathan.
He was alive.
Holy shit!
She couldn't move. She longed to run into his arms as fast as she could and leap into his embrace, never letting him go.
Before she could react, three figures blurred past her as Joyce, Will and Eleven raced over to him as fast as lighting.
"Jonathan!" Will flung himself into his brother's arms, closely followed by the other two. Jonathan staggered at the force of his family, but righted himself and wrapped his arms around for a big hug.
"Thank god!" Joyce sobbed, with joy now, clutching her eldest son lovingly.
Eleven didn't say a word, simply squeezing her brother tight.
The Byers family had been through a lot of shit. To see them all alive, huddled together, at the very end of all of their troubles made Nancy's very soul light up. And from the proud look on Hopper’s face, she wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
"Are you guys okay?" Jonathan asked them tenderly, squeezing them to him tightly. Always looking out for them.
That was her Jonathan.
After almost a minute with his family, he glanced away from them and up towards Nancy. His eyes bore into hers lovingly, making hers begin to well her once more. But this time, she felt nothing but tentative joy at the sight of him again.
Placing kisses on his family's foreheads, Jonathan slowly unlaced himself from their grasp and stepped towards Nancy. He stopped just a step away, looking down at her with a little grin.
"You're alive." She whispered, blinking at him through her tears.
"I made a promise." He said. He brought a hand up slowly, and she quickly moved to take
The sensation of his calloused skin on her own made her lip tremble.
How?” She gently stroked his hand with her thumb.
“A bit of hiding, a lot of running and a fuck ton of luck.” Her boyfriend chuckled exhaustedly, swaying on his feet. She was quick to wrap her arms around his chest tightly to keep him standing, but soon leaned into his chest and pulled him close. Just to feel him, telling herself for certain that was alive.
All her dark thoughts from earlier had been washed away her elation to see Jonathan again. Now, she felt her heart repair itself. The missing part of her soul had slotted back into place now that he was in her arms again.
This was the endgame she had been fighting for.
He brought his arms around her neck and returned the hug, wrapping his larger arms around her smaller frame and clinging to her tightly. At last, she was back in her happy place. She was thoroughly content to spend at least the next week in his arms, until the sound of his teasing voice filled her ears.
“Didn’t you want to say something to me when I got back?”
Nancy straightened up, trying to look at him sternly but failing and instead beaming like the love-struck dope she was. Who fucking cared anyway? "You're an idiot, okay? The biggest idiot in the whole world."
"... And?" Jonathan grinned at her, filling her with so much joy she felt like she might burst. She slinked her arms up and around his neck to hold him in place, her thumb stroking his calloused skin unconsciously.
"And I love you very much." She smiled.
His smirk softened into the look of pure affection that comforted her like nothing else in the world could. "I love you too."
Nancy leaned up and kissed Jonathan passionately, her lips softly gliding over his own. He returned it eagerly, humming in pleasure as he chased her lips. She tasted gunpowder, sweat and beer on his lips; a strange yet intoxicating combination. Like an out of body experience, she felt herself . Nancy grinned into his kiss, gripping her hands around his neck to keep him close. She felt her heart beat fast and her sweaty hands get even more so against his skin.
It was a perfect kiss. One of those romantic, heartfelt kisses at the end of a movie between the hero and heroine, the type that only Jonathan knew she liked. And from the way he was pulling her close, he knew that’s what she wanted right now.
When they broke off, only to catch their breath, the hot air from their full lips warming the others, Jonathan leaned down to place a delicate kiss above one of the tears that had fallen down her cheek, then nudged her nose playfully with his own. She giggled at his sweet gesture and placed an intimate kiss onto his nose to make him chuckle bashfully in response. For the first time in a long time, she felt like a teenager in love with her boyfriend, without the threat of the world hanging above them.
Nancy felt true euphoria at that moment. He had come back to her. They were together.
However, as she gazed adoringly at her boyfriend, she suddenly frowned at the sight of the blood on his face, and noticed a nasty gash being covered by his floppy hair.
"You're hurt!" She reached a hand up and brushed his locks away to examine the bloody scar on his forehead. It wasn’t the only wound she’d noticed. Especially when parts of his armour and trousers had been torn off at the seams. Clearly he’d had a hell of a fight getting back to her.
"It's just a flesh wound. I'll be fine." Jonathan reassured her and wiped the blood away in a very non-convincing manner - still an idiot.
"You're bleeding all over me." She raised her eyebrows and stared at him judgmentally.
That only made him laugh blissfully. "Sorry.”
"I'll have to patch you up later." She brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes.
Jonathan looked up from her, eyeing all the smiling faces on the other members of their family with a relief as Nancy clung to his side. Everybody was happy once again, delighted that they were all safe and together at the end.
"Did we win?" He asked everyone.
"We did. It's over." Joyce said from behind them as she hugged Will jubilantly.
"Thanks to you." Nancy told Jonathan with a loving smile, bringing her hand up to cup his cheek in her palms. "You saved us."
Jonathan immediately pulled her close for another warm hug, pressing her close like he was afraid she wouldn’t be there when he let go. But she would. After 8 months apart and the mother of all death scares, Nancy swore that they would never be apart again. Maybe she’d have to put a ring on his finger to make sure he kept his promise.
“You saved me.” He whispered into her ear so that only she could hear his words. It was only for her.
Tears welled in her eyes, and she let out a noise that was either a sob, a laugh or both. She didn’t know. It just meant that she was happier in that moment than ever before. The love of her life in her arms and the world free from monsters was a pretty good reason to be really fucking happy.
"So what now?" Mike suddenly asked, making everybody look around in surprise.
What would they do now?
Nobody knew what to say to that. Defeating Vecna and saving Hawkins had been their only focus for so long. And now it was over, were they expected to just go back to normal? What about the government being involved?
Nancy hadn’t thought about Emerson in weeks. In the heat of the moment when they were all fighting for their lives and to save the entire world, college had become an afterthought, She wasn’t sure she was ready to dive back into that. Especially when her boyfriend had only just come back from apparent death about 5 minutes ago.
"I could eat." Steve answered cautiously, looking around at everyone for agreement.
“Me too.” Eleven chimed in.
“Me three. I’m freaking starving!” Dustin complained.
"Yeah, I think we’ve earned a proper meal.” Lucas grinned at the rest of the party.
“I’m pretty sure we’ve earned a lifetime full of proper meals. But at least one would be nice.” Max added.
“Hey, I was the one who was dead! I definitely need food pronto!” Eddie insisted.
Nancy felt her own stomach growl at the mention of food. After their crazy time fighting in Hawkins, she realized how exhausted and hungry she was. How hungry they all were.
Hopper cleared his throat loudly to attract everyone’s attention. “Alright, Murray and I will go to the McDonald's nearby and bring back some food.”
“We will?” Murray objected, but Hopper pointedly ignored him and kept on talking.
“In the meantime, everybody better clean up and get changed since you all smell awful. There’s clothes and a shower inside. And a med kit.”
While the younger teens began to talk amongst themselves about what food they wanted, Hopper walked over to Jonathan and Nancy. The two teens looked up at the big guy, who seemed a little unsure.
“Good to see you again, son.” Hopper smiled at Jonathan, patting the young man on the arm awkwardly, before moving away towards Joyce.
Nancy laughed at Jonathan’s taken back expression. Looks like he would have to get used to the idea of a new step dad soon. But from the pleased smile on her boyfriend's face, he was not opposed to the idea.
“Nice job, Byers.” Steve suddenly appeared at Jonathan’s side and lay a hand on his shoulders squeezing it reassuringly and offering him a friendly grin.
“You too.” Jonathan reached over with the arm not wrapped around Nancy’s shoulders to return the gesture.
Nancy couldn’t help how happy she looked at the sight of the two of the two young men smiling together. They’d both come so far since their junior year at Hawkins High. They had all grown up and put their teenage rivalries in the past, forming unbreakable friendships in the process. She would always care about Steve, and was so happy he had managed to move on and become a close friend to the boy she loved. It really was the best ending for the three of them.
Eddie suddenly crashed into them from behind, wrapping his arms around Steve and Jonathan with a big excited grin. “Yeah dude, headshotting that freak was badass!”
“You have to tell us the story of how you managed to escape the Demodogs!” Dustin exclaimed eagerly, as he and Lucas moved closer to the huddle.
“And how you went up against Vecna.” Robin added, walking next to Steve to look at Jonathan with interested eyes.
“You did what?” Will’s eyes went wide with shock. The mention of their deadly enemy had everyone looking over at Jonathan, waiting with bated breath to hear his story.
“When I fought Henry, he was wounded. Somebody had shot him in the head. Was that you?” Eleven asked curiously. That made everyone, including Nancy, look at the silent Jonathan with surprise and awe.
“You headshotted Vecna too?!” Even Erica sounded impressed.
"Way to go, Johnno!" Eddie congratulated him excitedly.
Nancy could see that Jonathan was getting a little overwhelmed by all the attention, so she quickly decided to intervene. As keen as she was to hear his story, she wanted her boyfriend to be healed and comfortable before they got into what happened to him.
“Alright, that’s enough, He can talk to you all later after I clean up his wounds.” She ordered everyone with authority. “But right now, we all stink like shit. So let’s get cleaned up first.”
“You heard her, kids. Everybody inside.” Joyce told them all in a motherly tone that brokered no objection.
Luckily, the happiness of their reunion quickly returned, with laughter and jokes popping up now that everyone was together. Everyone began to make their way into Hopper’s Cabin, where they’d all gather in the living room together in new clothes with proper food and talk about their adventures. Nancy would cuddle Jonathan as he told the amazing story of how he survived, and they’d fall asleep on the sofa that evening, wrapped in one another’s arms.
When everybody else had stepped into the cabin, Jonathan paused on the porch and turned to take her hands in his own and smile at her.
"Are we okay?" He asked in a quiet voice.
A couple of months ago, it had been a question that filled them both with fear. Now, it was their own symbol. A way of reminding the other person that they always had someone who loved them at their side. Just another thing they had of saying ‘I love you’ that only they would know.
"We're amazing." Nancy beamed back, and leaned up to kiss him tenderly once more. His boyish grin in response was perhaps the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen.
Her life had felt so dark without Jonathan. But then he came back to her, just as he promised.
Nancy had no clue what to do tomorrow. Or the day after that. She didn't know what their plans were now. But to be honest, as she tucked herself into Jonathan's side and walked with him to catch up with their family, she didn't really care that much.
They were alive. They were together. Whatever shit life threw at them, they could come out on top.
And anything was possible for them. They could go to college, and travel the world. Chase their dreams side by side. Even marry in church, and settle down with kids of their own one day, just as she had dreamed.
Talk about a happy ending.