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It cowered in the corner as It whimpered like a stray puppy. The clown that had terrorized generations of children for centuries since It came to Earth. The clown that brought them all together that summer. 27 years of forgotten memories and repressed emotions. The 7 of them put an end to It. An accountant, a comedian, an author, a librarian, a designer, an architect, and a risk analyst. Richie couldn’t help but laugh in his head. Of course, Eddie became a risk analyst, why wouldn’t he? It had tried to keep them apart, with visions and threats, but It failed, and now…It was dying.
“Rich, you still with us?” Mike asked, pulling Richie from his thoughts and back to the circle he and his friends were in, everyone with their hand around Its heart. Richie blinked before reaching forward to join them.
“This fucking clown being bullied to death is the funniest thing I’ve heard in 27 years,” Richie said as his hand met with the others.
“Well, I assume you’ve heard every joke you ever told, Richard. So yeah, I think it’s safe to say that.” Stan joked, his face still stoic, making the others laugh. An 8th laugh joined them, bringing the laughter to a halt. The Losers looked towards the abomination that was Pennywise, who was laughing.
“L-l-Look how grown-up you’ve all gotten.” It said with a raspy breath. “D-d-d-do you wanna hear another j-joke?” It asked, looking directly at Richie, making it clear who It was talking to. Richie’s eyes narrowed until a hand fell upon his shoulder, he turned to see Eddie with a warm smile, as if to offer reassurance. Richie turned back to the clown and scoffed.
“I feel like you’re going to say it anyway, but just remember fuckface,” Richie started, tightening his grip on the clown’s heart, making It wince and wheeze. He continued, “You’ve got a very hostile audience.” He finished as he softened his fist. Pennywise smirked and began to let out a low chuckle. Until It dropped the wheeze and raspiness of Its voice, making Itself be heard clearly.
“What do you call a 40-year-old comedian that’s so far in the closet he can’t find his way out, is so desperately in love with his asthmatic best friend he had to make jokes about fucking wheezy’s dear mother because that’s the closest he’d ever get and is standing right here?” It taunted, making Richie let out a sharp gasp. Silence filled the cavern as Richie's hand fell from the heart.
“Richie?” Eddie asked, removing his hand from Richie’s shoulder. Pennywise grinned.
“Bingo Eds. Now, what do you call-” Pennywise began before Eddie pulled Richie’s hand back on the heart and forced it closed, along with the other Losers’ hands. The heart collapsed under the weight, spewing out a black ooze that floated into the air, disappearing soon after. Pennywise groaned and wheezed, meanwhile, up above the clown and the 7 Losers the blinding blue gleam of the Deadlights began to fade into a cloud of black smoke until they were gone. Pennywise’s eyes fell back to the Losers as It began to fade away. Much like how Voldermort was defeated in the 2011 movie, Bill thought to himself, as he turned his attention to Richie. Richie wasn’t there, he had left. A clattering of a nearby rock drew Bill’s attention. He turned around just in time to see Richie run through the tunnel they entered.
“Shit,” Bill said, getting the attention of the others. “Richie just ran off,” Bill said as he followed after. A loud rumble echoed throughout the cavern as stalagmites began to fall from up above. One piercing directly through the husk of Pennywise, shattering it immediately.
“This place is falling apart,” Beverly uttered, grabbing Ben’s hand tight.
“It’s final trick,” Stan said sarcastically. He looked up in time to see another stalagmite falling. He rushed over to Bill and tackled him to the ground, barely avoiding the stalagmite.
“We need to go, now!” Mike yelled as the cavern began to crumble. Rocks and debris from the walls, ground, and ceiling began to fly towards the middle of the cavern, where the Deadlights once were. Everyone began to run, except for Eddie, who stood still, looking at the remains of Pennywise.
“The one thing he never got to tell me, and you took it from him,” Eddie whispered, staring daggers at the fragments of the clown. He didn’t even realize he was being carried away by Mike until he was already outside. His eyes widened as he squirmed out of Mike’s grasp. Eddie looked around seeing Stan, Bill, Ben, Beverly, Mike…but no Richie. His heart fell and his anger rose as he turned around and charged back towards the house.
“RICHIE! WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU LEAVE RICHIE IN THERE?” Eddie screamed as Ben and Mike held him back. Soon, The Neibolt House collapsed on itself. Sucking the trees, fence, garbage, any evidence a house was ever there into the ground. Eddie began to cry as he fell to his knees.
“Eddie! Richie wasn’t in there,” Ben reassured his devastated friend. Eddie looked up at him with confusion. “He left a few seconds after we crushed Its heart, after…” Ben trailed off.
“After Pennywise outed him,” Stan finished as he cleaned a small pansexual flag pin that was attached to the collar of his shirt.
“The only question is, where did he go?” Beverly asked as she looked into the sky. It was just about dawn and the sky was crystal clear, a sign that things were already better.
“I think it’d be best if we let Richie be alone for right now,” Bill said, resting his hand on Eddie's shoulder. “His biggest secret was just revealed, wouldn’t you?” Bill rhetorically asked.
The Losers silently agreed to not go looking for their missing friend, instead, to go to the quarry to clean up, seeing as they were completely filthy. When they got to the quarry, they found the one thing they had just agreed to not look for.
“Richie!” Eddie yelled, breaking off from the others. Richie tensed up and swallowed his pride. He turned around and smiled.
“Sorry I ran off, I just didn’t want you to think that I’d give you AIDS or-” Richie tried to explain before Eddie slapped him in the face. Richie shuddered, a tear forming in his eye. “I’m sorry Eds, I know that I must-” Richie tried again but was cut off again, this time by Eddie kissing him. A shock to Richie, who didn’t expect his feelings to be reciprocated. A shock to Mike and Bill, who were sprinting over to stop a fight from happening after seeing Eddie slap Richie. A shock to Ben, who thought it was a very comfortable friendship. A shock to Eddie, who never thought he’d kiss the boy of his dreams. But not a shock to Stan and Beverly, since both of them had impeccable gaydars. “Eddie?” Richie asked wearily.
“Don’t you ever fucking run off again asshole, you got it?” Eddie ordered in a deep voice.
“Oh baby, you can order me around any time, if you’re this demanding in public…you must be a freak in-” Richie’s inappropriately timed joke was interrupted by a distant, yet unnaturally loud explosion from somewhere in town. The 7 of them looked up to see blue and black storm clouds roll in from nowhere, as it began to downpour. Thunder and lightning filled the skies as a brutally strong wind began to blow. While none of them knew what was happening, they knew it had something to do with.
“Pennywise.” The 7 of them said at the same time, as they rushed into town.
The epicenter of the storm was right over where the Neibolt House previously was. Meters above where the house stood, a vortex had formed. The immediate area was devastated. Homes, cars, trees, fences, everything was destroyed. The storm pulsated until it released a wave of electricity, causing a town-wide power outage. Lightning bolts emerged from the vortex, striking buildings and locations of Derry, anything caught in the range was sent hurtling towards the vortex, disappearing in the abyss. The Losers arrived on Main Street as the vortex grew.
“This is awful, even in death, It causes more pain and suffering,” Mike said as he turned to face the others. “We need to help anybody we can. I know that Derry has a lot of bad people, but some people are still innocent that live in this town,” Mike said, as he started to run towards the library.
“MIKE! Where are you going?” Richie yelled. Mike turned around and shrugged.
“The library has a storm bunker, but it wasn’t built for this type of storm, people are going to be there and not know they won’t make it. Spread out! Save who you can.” Mike said, taking off in a full sprint.
“Well, we aren’t going to save anyone unless we have transportation,” Ben started, as he turned to face the direction of the school. “I’m going to get some buses from the school, it’s the best way.” Ben finished, taking off for the school.
“I’m going to gather people here on Main Street, it’s the most populated area so-” Beverly began as another bolt crashed down right in the intersection of Main and Center. The Aladdin and Keene’s Pharmacy were destroyed in the impact sending both buildings along with Greta and her father alongside roughly half a dozen others into the vortex. Another bolt hit in the distance as the 5 remaining Losers froze in both awe and fear. The Derry Standpipe was lifted into the sky. Until it wasn’t. The standpipe crashed down roughly where the school would be and began to roll unnaturally. It came directly towards the center of town. It crushed Derry Town Hall, the Derry Police Station, The library, Finn’s Cafe, Jayden Co Furnishing, J and W’s clothing store, the Paul Bunyan statue, and half of Main Street before a strong wind pushed the standpipe towards the residential area.
“We have to leave!” Bill screamed, trying to be heard over the chaos.
“What about Mike and Ben?” Eddie asked. Another bolt came down again, causing a blinding white light to envelop the Losers.
Richie opened his eyes. His head hurt, his body hurt, his eyes hurt. He slowly sat up and was shocked by his surroundings. The storm had ended, leaving behind ruins of the town he grew up in. Bodies covered the area, most recognizable, others burnt beyond recognition.
“EDDIE? BEVERLY? BILL? STAN?” Richie cried out as he tried to get up. He was unable to. He looked down and his body was crushed by the head of the Paul Bunyan statue. Richie used all of his remaining strength to push the head off of his lap. He wished he didn’t though. In his lap lay Eddie, who sacrificed himself so that Richie wasn’t crushed. Richie wanted to cry, but he couldn’t. “Eds.” He whispered. Richie looked around and saw a small, bloodied, pansexual flag pin discarded in the rubble. “S-Stan.” Richie croaked out.
“Richard.” A voice boomed. “This is the fate of you and your friends. There is nothing you can do if you try to save Derry. This is your warning. Do. Not. Intervene.” The voice finished as another light flashed.
Richie gasped as he exited Neibolt House. He looked around and began to cry.
“Rich! Richie!” He heard Beverly call out to him. He turned around and swallowed.
“Yes, I’m gay, I love Eddie. But that can wait!” Richie yelled, causing the others to stop.
“Chee, I-” Eddie began. Richie shushed him.
“You feel the same, yes I know. I’m fucking thrilled, but as I said. THAT CAN FUCKING WAIT!” Richie yelled. Running his hands through his hair as he exhaled a long breath. “This entire town is about to be destroyed by an unstoppable storm. We need to get the hell out of here…NOW!” Richie explained as he took off for the library.
“Richie, wait!” Mike said, running over to him. “If a storm is about to destroy the town, we should try to help. I-” Mike began.
“You know that Derry has a lot of bad people, but there are people who are still innocent that live in this town.” Richie finished, done with Mike’s heroic bullshit. “Yeah Mike, I know, those were your last words to me before you were fucking crushed under the standpipe,” Richie said, making Mike go quiet. “Listen, if we don’t leave now, we will all die. Every last one of us.” Richie finished, continuing towards the library.
“Richie, how do you know that?” Stan asked, worriedly.
“I know because I saw it, Stan. I saw Eddie crushed under the stupid Paul Bunyan statue, I saw your pansexual pin discarded and bloody, we died man. Then this stupid voice-” Richie began.
“Warned you of the future and told you to change it?” Stan finished, as he became pale. Richie nodded and Stan let out a nervous laugh. “He appeared to me as a turtle. I uh, tried to slit my wrists…that’s how scared I was to come back.” Stan paused, rubbing his lower arm gently. “It showed me a future where I did, you guys defeat It, but lose Eddie, Mike, and Ben in the process. I wasn’t going to let that happen.” Stan admitted, a tear falling from his stoic eyes. A small rumbling broke the moment as The Losers realized they were still in danger. Mike, Richie, and Eddie ran to the library. Mike was grabbing his personal belongings such as a scrapbook, family pictures, and some of his favorite books. Richie and Eddie sat in Richie’s obscenely expensive rental car waiting for him. Meanwhile, Stan, Bill, Ben, and Beverly rushed back to the townhouse to grab everyone’s bags and belongings. They had trouble with Eddie’s stuff but they eventually fit everything in the 4 cars. As the Townhouse crew pulled out and raced for the kissing bridge, an ear-piercing explosion happened. The storm had begun. Stan was the first one out of town, going 35 miles over the speed limit. Next was Bill, in Eddie’s car, since he abandoned his at the Canal Days Fair. Ben and Bev drove through next side by side. Around the corner came Richie’s car as it picked up speed trying to get out of town. Just as the library crew passed the bridge it collapsed under the weight of a school bus, cutting off access to the town. The 7 continued to drive until they were in Bangor. They finally pulled over in a gas station as they watched on the local news, that Derry was destroyed and as of right now, no survivors were found. Pennywise was dead, Derry along with It. But the seven of them survived, just like before. They will be the only ones to ever know what truly happened in Derry, and every journalist and asshole with a camera is going to want their story, but they were prepared. Only 2 words that they all seemingly knew, are the only response they’ll need.
“Ask Maturin.”