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You and Dustin were able to successfully make it back to the upside down despite the fact that Eddie cut the sheets that you were using to go in and out.
You and Dustin both hurt your feet in the process. Cursing loudly to take the pain away. After a few moments, you both stood up and slammed the door open to look for Eddie.
There he was, in the middle of the flying demobats, fighting for his life. You’ve been frozen on the spot along with Dustin. But when you saw one of the demobats put its tail on Eddie’s neck, choking him in the process, you forgot about the pain on your feet and just sprinted with all your might.
Dustin seems to have been hurt more than you are because he can’t run without using the makeshift spear that he picked up inside the trailer before running outside as an aid.
You ran and ran and ran until you were merely a few more feet away from Eddie. He was on the ground, pinned by those demobats and screaming of pain. You can feel your tears rolling down your face at the sight. You tried to bang the nearest trash can you can find to try and take their attention away from him in hopes that they will stop but to no avail.
Until suddenly, the demobats fell to the ground one at a time.
You immediately ran to Eddie and took the demobat that was still clutching on his neck, although already dead, you still stabbed it with the spear on your hand to make sure.
You kneeled before Eddie and tried to lift him up to your lap. You knew he loved that. He always loves using your lap as a pillow whenever you two hang out together.
“I didn’t run away this time, right?” he smiled at you over his bloody mouth. Though it immediately falters to a grimace due to the pain he might be feeling.
Dustin kneeled beside you after a few moments with tears streaming down his face.
“No…” you both said. You took Eddie’s hands and grip it tight.
“We’ll bring you back then we’ll take you to the hospital, okay?” you were rubbing small circular patterns over his hands. Just the way he likes it.
He gave you another smile which you reciprocated despite the continuous flow of tears on your face.
“I’m gonna graduate this year.” he said more of a statement than a question. Which made your heart break to small little pieces that you know will never be fixed again. You heard Dustin cry louder beside you.
“Yes, you will. Me, Dustin and Wayne will be there to see you walk that fucking stage.” he laughed but was replaced with fits of cough with blood.
“This is my year…” you felt his grip tighten in your hands. Which you tighten back to let him know you’re there and you’re not going anywhere.
“‘86, Baby! I can’t wait to see you play next week in The hideout!” you exclaimed which made Eddie give out another smile.
“Yeah… better prepare what songs we have to play…”
“It better be the best. Oh! And you gotta meet Will! You will love that kid, he loves D&D so much!” Eddie smiled again but he was no longer looking at you. He was looking at the sky.
“Henderson?” Dustin immediately moves forward to show himself to Eddie.
“Hey, Buddy. Steve and the others should be here soon. Then we will take you out and bring you to a hospi-”
“HENDERSON!” Eddie cut Dustin off by shouting which ended up with him wincing in pain.
“Hey! Don’t do that!” you told him while squeezing his hand again which you realized was getting colder by the second.
“Henderson, you’re gonna have to look after those little sheep for me, okay?” Eddie said while smiling at the young boy. Pain evident on his face now with trickles of tears falling down his cheeks.
“No! You’re gonna do that yourself!” Dustin exclaimed and you just ended up crying and crying while clutching Eddie’s hands on your chest. Trying to share with him your warmth and make him feel the beat of your heart.
“Nah, man. Say it. And you too…” Eddie squeezed your hand to let you know that he was referring to you. You can’t look at him. You just clutched his hand closer to your chest and cried.
“Say it…” Eddie repeated which made you and Dustin cry even more.
“I’m… I’m gonna look after them…” Dustin said with a small voice and when you felt Edide tugged your hand, you just nod your head with agreement. Still cannot look at his face. If this is the end, then you would like to remember him with all his glory. The bouncing curly hair, the sweet smile and his dimples, his big brown eyes. Not this one. Not the bloody one with a lifeless look in his eyes. You can’t even see his dimples whenever he tries to smile because of all the blood on his face.
“Good…”
“WHY THE FUCK DO YOU GOTTA BE A FUCKING HERO, EDDIE! THE ONE TIME THAT I WANTED YOU TO RUN AWAY, YOU DIDN’T…” as much as you wanted to be mad at him, your tears and the way that you were holding his hands as if your life depended on it, betrayed every single emotion you wanted to portray.
You wanted to be the strong foul-mouthed woman that he says he always likes but you just can't. You heard him scoff at the comment.
“Hero, huh? I’m sure everyone will think so otherwise…” you can’t help but laugh at the comment even through your tears.
“I love you, Eddie.” You can feel his grip loosening on your hands and you tried to squeeze it as hard as you could just to keep him holding onto you.
“I… love you too. And you too… man” you saw him glanced at Dustin.
Dustin just cried while saying it back to him.
“Eddie?” panicked can be heard from your voice as you felt his hands slipping from yours.
“EDDIE!” you and Dustin shouted at the same time while trying to shake him up.
“This isn’t funny, Eddie!” you kept on shaking him. Trying to wake him up.
“Hey, guys! Vecna was-” you looked up and saw Robin stop on her tracks upon seeing you on the ground with Eddie in your hands, bloody and not moving.
Everything was a blur.
Next thing you know, Steve and Nancy were right beside you trying to shake Eddie as well. You’re not even sure if they were talking to you as the only thing you can hear was this loud buzzing noise in your ear.
You only seem to get back to your senses when you feel Steve taking Eddie from your arms.
“No…” you bowed down and hugged Eddie’s lifeless body while trying to pry away Steve’s hands from taking him from you.
You felt Dustin hug you from the back while muttering, “You have to let go… Steve will take him back.” before you finally loosen your grip from Eddie’s body and turn around to hug Dustin back trying not to look as Steve closes Eddie’s eyes and lifts him up from the ground.
Then you felt Robin hug you from the side. You can hear her and Dustin muttering words through your ear but nothing is registering on your brain. All you can hear now was Eddie. His laugh, the way he calls your name, him singing while playing his guitar, the weird noises he makes whenever you play D&D, the weird things he says when he’s high. Trying to engrave it to your memory for you know you will never hear it again.
Before you know it, all of you were already out of the upside down and standing outside Eddie’s trailer.
You saw Steve walk off to the woods with Eddie’s body still in his hands and you felt Dustin hold your hand to guide you to follow.
You all followed him and once you made it to this clearing at the edge of the wood, you fell down crying again. Because you know this place, you know it like the back of your hands.
Eddie will always bring you here while he gets high and you are just lying on the ground watching the stars or reading a book under the shade of the biggest tree.
You saw in the corner of your eyes while still crying that Nancy and Steve had now started to dig right at the corner of the clearing.
“No…” you uttered. Robin hushed you down and told you it will be alright and you all have to do it.
“No!” you stood up and stopped Steve from digging. He and Nancy were about to say something but you cut them off.
“Not here… It has to be there…” you pointed to the other side of the clearing with less grass and is under a big tree.
“He likes to lay down there… He will kill me if I let you bury him here. The sun always shines here and he hated it because there’s no shade.” you felt Dustin hugged you again on your waist.
You heard Steve and Nancy laugh a little but moved over the spot you pointed out and started digging there instead.
The same spot he always used to sleep at if he wanted to get away from the drama of everything. You're still crying but no longer as hard as Dustin. This is when you noticed that Nancy and Steve also kept on swiping the back of their hands from their faces.
At first, you thought it’s the sweat from digging but then when you cleared your tears away, they too were crying. And so does Robin who was sitting close to you on the ground. With her face buried on her arms and knees.
Once they felt like it was already deep enough, you helped Steve slowly lower down Eddie to the ground. Dustin was now hugging Robin for support while he still continuously cried.
You slowly removed the bracelet that was decorating your left arm.
“My mom gave this to me before she passed away. It’s a family Heirloom. Eddie always used to say he’ll make sure I will be able to pass it over.” you said through tears with a small laugh.
Which made the others give out a small smile. Everyone knows that you don’t want to have kids. So the idea of having a family heirloom is very funny to you. Because family Heirlooms were meant to be passed down, which will never happen if you don’t plan on having kids.
But Eddie would always joke around saying he’ll make sure you will be able to pass it over. A hint of playfulness and smirk whenever he says it.
You kneeled to the ground close enough to reach Eddie’s hands and put the bracelet on his wrist.
“Well, at least I was able to pass it on. You won this round, Munson.” you felt Nancy’s hands rubbing your back. You let go of Eddie’s hands and stood back up.
Dustin walked over beside you and took from his pocket a small item which upon further inspection, was his character from their D&D game.
“Eddie said my character fits me because it’s perfect and does not need any changing.” Dustin kneeled over and slowly threw the item.
“Well, we never hung out before but guess what I accidentally put in my pocket while we were frantically looking for music to try and save Nancy from Vecna.” Robin took out a small mixtape from her pocket and you can’t stop crying when you saw that it was the same mixtape you gifted Eddie a few years back for christmas.
He played it too much and could no longer play it because it got broken at some point. But he still kept it, saying it his favorite of all.
Robin lowered it down and put it on Eddie’s chest.
“Can’t let him go without his music, right? He might kill us.” Robin added which made all of you laugh a little while still crying.
“I don’t have anything to give but do you think he will mind if I took something instead?” you heard Steve asked. You saw him crouched down and took one of Eddie’s rings.
“I never told him but I really like this one. And I’m actually jealous that he can wear them so casually because if I did, my parents will definitely think I’m some rebellious punk.” you all laugh at the comment. Before he fully took the ring out, Steve looked at you as if asking for permission.
“I’m sure he will be ecstatic to know that The Steve Harrington had taken a liking to his rings. They were his priceless possessions.” you expected him to put it on his own fingers but he unclasped his necklace and slipped it over like a pendant.
“I think it will be better here. So it will always be closer to my heart.” you can’t help the tears from falling down your eyes again. You glanced back down at Eddie who was actually cleaned over by Robin and Nancy a while back.
And now he looks like he was just sleeping with his eyes closed. You’ve never seen him so peaceful.
“The only thing I can give Eddie right now, is to make sure that his death will not go in vain. I will not let this town paint him as the Killer that he wasn’t. He will be the Hero. For that’s what he deserves.” Nancy said and you hugged Dustin again while you all cried and Steve started shoveling back the ground.
Before Eddie was fully covered, you took one long glimpse at his face. Trying to remember every single feature of his face that you might’ve missed over the years that you were together.
You and Dustin picked up some dandelions and tied it like a bouquet then placed it on top of the ground.
“Goodbye and I’ll see you again, our Dungeon Master.”